Wendigo
by Sage94
Summary: AU OC fic. Riley, a Native American university student, follows her friend into ME and tries to convince her to go back to their world. Unbeknownst to her right away, she encounters something that forces her and her friend to stay that is pulled from the stories she learned as a child. What will it take to get them back to their world? Warn: Not just tenth, but eleventh walker fic.
1. Chapter 1 A Row

**Hi. So. This is odd for me. Um I'm going to try and attempt a lord of the rings fanfiction. So I guess this is going to be about two characters journey's into middle earth, and to keep matters easier for me, it will be during the fellowship, and if I see a future beyond that I will let you know.**

**Ok so the first chapter will be establishing things folks, because I hate hate hate how some fics just go, ok, you're there, first thing. Well, one character will be lead there initially, but I wont be there straight away. **

**Umm I guess a short summary is in order:**

**Lana is a dreamer, hoping to escape her own world and into a world she had forgotten. Riley is reason, and is determined to save Lana and bring her back to earth if she can (and in one piece) and make her see that you cannot escape yourself wherever you go. That is, if she does not get lost in Middle Earth herself.**

**And don't worry you visual people, a physical description will come of them soon enough. I want to introduce things first.**

* * *

Chapter 1: A row

A girl sat on her bed whirring through her laptop, occasionally leaning back to stretch her back and crack her knuckles. Another girl lay on her carpeted floor gazing up at the ceiling.

"Lana, you really should get to work." The first said, though not critically.

Lana pulled out her phone and pulled out her phone defiantly, and continued her blogging while her friend tapped away on her university assignment. The comment held no weight towards Lana's feelings, for she was completely in her own world. Her daydreams often led her to forget to speak, even acknowledge any other happenings outside her own business.

Besides, the first had said similar phrases throughout the day they had spent in her room. It was getting old.

The friend atop her bed perch gazed down at the figure on her floor with seemingly unconcerned eyes but momentarily ceased her tick tacking to pull open another browser. She typed in the letter t in the URL and let the rest of the bar auto-complete to the most used site under that letter. A few short clicks away and her face slowly contorted into annoyance and she glanced over her screen again to see Lana, with her eyes glazed over as she blogged.

"Reblogging sad posts won't get the job finished." She said sharply.

Lana, startled, dropped her phone onto her face, and rolled onto her side to curl up and cradle her pained face.

"Why do you always do that?" Lana said all muffled from her hands.

"It's not my fault you startle easy." There was the barest hint of amusement that only Lana had learned to listen for.

"Yes it is," Lana mumbled childishly, sitting up.

Lana picked her phone up and was about to resume when the darn thing had indicated it needed to be charged.

She began her demand, "Riley, can I use your—"

"Not until you start your rough draft."

"Darn I left my notepad at home."

"I have paper on my desk," Riley said without looking up. If

Lana huffed and chucked her phone beside her purse before venturing towards the other side of the room.

She was definitely dreading finding the paper, and took to examining everything along the way.

Lana knew that Riley wasn't one for showing off, so her medals that were showcased on a small hook were thanks to Riley's mother, who wished her child were more proud of her accomplishments. They ranged from little league to high school senior sports all across the spectrum. Lana ran her hand along them, fancying the clangs they made when disturbed.

Riley wanted to tell her to hurry up, but long ago realized rushing Lana was not a reasonable thing to do, it just prompted arguments.

Lana frequently wondered, "What happened" to Riley. What had originally made them become such good friends was her tendency for action, her unregretful personality and her love. Not that she still wasn't any of those things, she just tended to only show these qualities to her and trusted people. It was a gradual thing that she finally noticed in their senior year. There were signs, like she wouldn't speak up often, wasn't always so cheeky towards teachers and peers anymore, and her sense of humour had dried.

Lana stopped along the wall in front of a shelf. "What's this?" She asked, and picked up a pearly silvery shell the size of her hand, cupped.

"Abalone."

"Like the jewellery?"

There was a pause in Riley's response that Lana hadn't noticed in her fascination, "Sure."

"C'mon, what's it for."

Riley shifted nervously, and sat on her haunches. "You see that bundle of dried plants?" she asked. She set her laptop aside to pay attention to Lana's action, lest that girl drop anything.

Lana picked up the pale gray and green plant, almost white, and smelled it instinctively. Her face pursed, not sure what to make of it.

"You take a little and put it in the bowl and burn it."

Lana nodded, "What is it?"

"Sage. For healing."

"Oh." She replaced it on the shelf, and gazed upon the other shelves also containing things she wasn't sure about. Lana sensed the pressure in the room, and moved along feeling it lift. She quickly made her way to the desk, and pulled up a notebook. "This one okay to use?"

Riley nodded, settling back in with her computer, while Lana also finally decided to get to it.

* * *

Many hours later, they both decided it had all been too much.

Lana yawned excessively, and stretched herself like a cat, while Riley watched with amused eyes. She was always impressed with Lana's tendency to exaggerate.

"We should go outside." Lana suggested.

Riley snorted, preferring the comfort of her bed most.

"C'mon, like we used to!"

Lana was very charismatic. Riley was always surprised she did the things she did, but not by the abilities of the person who provoked her to do these wild things because it was difficult to deny Lana anything.

"You can never say no to me." Lana remarked adorably.

"Yeah, how do your parents handle you?" She replied rhetorically.

* * *

They discovered that both cars were gone; they hadn't even realized that Riley's older sister had left, taking their only way to town. They were a tad out of the way of the bus stop, which happened to be a very long walk to the main highway.

"Well, _like we used to_, let's take a walk in your backyard."

Backyard was an understatement. Riley happened to have just beyond her lawn a forest at her disposal, however it had not been used recently.

"How come you never talk about that stuff?" Lana asked, as they reached the beginnings of a path beyond the first couple of trees.

"What stuff?" Riley dodged the tree root to her left.

"You know, your native stuff?"

She shrugged. Internally, she rolled her eyes at the description. "Well, I've never been asked." Riley was careful to not say 'you never asked.'

"Well I think it's cool, you should talk about it more often." She said matter of fact.

"If only."

"I mean, why should you guys be hiding? The only thing I know about you guys is from like back in the day. People should know that you guys live like you do. You're just like us!"

"I know I guess we just get such a bad rap." Riley said, only to pass the conversation she'd heard so many times before.

"But I mean, I wish natives were good like you."

"Okay, shut up now."

It was not said half-hearted or good naturedly, Lana finally tuned to see Riley's utterly not amused face.

"What's wrong?"

"You know, I wish I didn't have to tell you. About it all. But I do."

"Well if you get your head off your high horse, you'd realize I just complimented you. It happens to you way more often than you think."

"That's not what I mean. I thought you would be a bit more sensitive. For me, for them. But it's just you, isn't it? In your own world."

Lana finally was fully offended. "Well, Riley. If you weren't so uptight and impersonal, you'd realize that I've not been ok. My parents hate me, my boyfriend cheated on me, I'm failing our courses, and my own friend won't recognize it."

"I'm sorry if I don't read into every single detail you lay out for me, but I have a life too."

"You are so selfish, you can't tell me it's been _that_ difficult to see that I'm hurting."

"I'm selfish? It's taken you how long to come and see me? I have a whole world of _problems_."

"You never said anything." Lana accused.

Prepared for a rebuttal, Riley opened her mouth to speak but ironically shut it to let Lana hear her own words. They rung against her.

"You cause your own problems." Riley muttered harshly. She led herself back to her house, leaving Lana there, still fuming. It was no matter to get back to the house, it was just going to be humiliating to grab her things and wait for Riley's parents to drive her home.

Lana started after Riley, intent on ending this conversation her way.

* * *

"Don't you walk away from me, we're going to finish this."

"No, I'm going to get your stuff. You can wait in the den until Mom gets home." Riley said, walking up the back porch.

Lana paused, she'd never been bossed around, and her friend was not the controlling type. She bit back her surprise so she could voice her usual tag line: "You can't say no to me."

Riley momentarily stopped, mid step. "Come on." She finally said, though never betraying her face to Lana.

* * *

Lana left a long while later, too long if you had asked Riley, which no one did near enough in her opinion. Her parents had sensed nothing amiss other than the fact that Lana had not raided their kitchen yet, as they were accustomed to her doing before her visits to their house lessened with university.

Wanting to preserve her relationship with Riley's parents, and not wanting to have to face the shame of walking home at this hour when a car ride was earlier guaranteed, she gave no suspicion to an argument and gratefully accepted transportation home.

Lana was not sure where Riley's new temperament came from. Her parents were lovely open people, they were good-humoured, loved to talk, especially about stories. And their rich way of speaking made her smile inside. She wished Riley would learn to be like them. These people would've gotten along so well at their high school, yet Riley was so reserved as of late, it was a stark comparison.

Once home in her suburban neighbourhood, she regretted instantly everything that had happened.

Things had just been going so poorly lately that she had managed to bugger up what ever else made her happy.

Lana's parents gave no warm welcome once she arrived, in fact, had taken much care in not noticing at all. The two adults had obviously just been arguing also, creating a tense air about the house. With a clench of her chest, she realized it must have been about her, because if it wasn't, they might've at least told her to get back to taking care of the house.

The argument in question was to get her out of the house. Lana did not understand, as they were scarcely around anyways. Part of her wished they wanted her presence. Why is it that wherever else she was received warmly with little effort, but when she tried twice as hard for their affections, she was met with nothing? She swallowed her affectionate side she so openly displayed elsewhere and quietly tiptoed up to her room.

For an hour or two well past her bedtime, Lana managed to stop her sniffling and pull laptop from its case to escape to her favourite site. Hours before she had spent on her blog, and she was not about to quit her getaway. She found herself looking droning through depressing things, and not fighting against it, reblogging where she could.

All through the night she cried silently, ignoring the amends of her ex boyfriend, standing against her parents' silence and neglecting everything else.

She decided at least, that the easiest thing at this point was to apologize to her friend, since it was fresh, and Riley was always forgiving.

Riley suddenly woke with a terrible grogginess whose sleep should not have been interrupted. But alas, her phone vibrated under her pillow. The girl scowled after noticing the sender. "Here's me saying no." She tossed her phone aside with a resounding thud and rolled over in her bed.

Lana cradled herself on her bedroom floor, forgetting her soft bed in favour of the cool ground. She stared blankly, long forgetting much of everything. Eventually, her eyes started fluttering, aching for sleep. She realized that she too had changed. She used to pay attention to much more than the opinions of others. She once cared to simply pay attention to herself.

Riley's comment about her selfishness wholly and truly hurt her. That was what she was hoping to avoid appearing as.

She once again wiped the welling in her eyes, only to be staring at a box under her bed. A long time ago she decided it was time to push away things that others found repulsive and found new appreciations in girly things, mature things, and real things. In fact, she had forgotten what was exactly in these boxes under her bed, only remembering that they were at least important enough to have been kept in her room, even if they were roughly packed.

Her tears ceased altogether as she pulled many things. Mostly books she used to covet. Excessively, she recalled. There were also faded photos, cassettes, and old scratched compact discs.

She pulled out of another box a book. Lana pursed her lips, remembering the embarrassment it caused her. The Hobbit was a book that her sixth grade class had read throughout the year, one that everyone enjoyed, since it was read altogether instead of on your own. That's how it ought to be read anyways, much less boring to that age anyways.

But Lana took a great liking to it. That following summer she had saved her birthday money to go halfsies with her mother in the trilogy of the Lord of the Rings. Those were the days when her mother would do most anything to keep her bounding daughter preoccupied for as long as possible.

Before Riley switched from the French Immersion class over to the English class and became Lana's best friend, this is what she immersed herself in for the summer. Lana had been determined to finish them, even if some of the diction escaped her.

By the next start of term, she was a poster child for fantasy genre. She had asked for weird things from her parents, like mythology books, archery lessons, and horse riding lessons, though did not succeed in getting her own pony unfortunately.

The class had obviously not taken kindly. As per usual in the world, this was the age where judgement started to take hold, and these children enforced it like no tomorrow.

Afterwards, Lana had taken notice that these qualities of hers were not welcome, and adjusted, though it took her until high school to put the stories away.

It was unfair though, as she felt the need to share these books, but this obsession did not mesh well socially with her bubbly personality, and was often squashed.

She was forgiven, however, since she was blessed with very agreeable looks. Such the way that high school works. The only person who seemed to take notice, but did not let it bother their friendship, was Riley. Lana had convinced her to at least read the Hobbit, which she did reluctantly. But Riley might've figured it was just a phase, since the books were dropped soon enough.

Therefore upon the books' reopening, a pang of hurt rung through her, but also nostalgia. What she had wished for was in these books.

The pain of the real world did not fade, but was overshadowed by the light of her books, bringing her away. If only there were a way out.

Dejectedly, she threw her books against the floor and away from her.

The following day, Lana rose from her sleep; still realizing it was her life. Her normally bright and cheerful eyes were puffy and red. She would usually correct them with makeup but felt drained of energy, even to get out of bed.

She decided upon a run, much later in the evening after finally getting out of bed. It being almost reading week, she saw little point in going for the rest of the week, even if she was behind. She had most of her teachers' favour and they were more lenient with her since she tended to have talks with her professors.

* * *

Finally on a dirt path, and far away from any car, person or sound, she settled into a pace. She focused on her breathing and footfalls, thankful for the distraction.

A whisper in the wind made her stop. Though she was wearing warm jogging clothing, once and a while a chill would run through her, and this one made her stop. All at once, events came rushing back to her. Now she had no one. Even the trees were silent, as if not wanting to respond to her.

She knew she had hurt Riley, her only rock left in her unstable life.

Her breaths were catching and before she could control it, her tears came rushing forth. Lana's bottom quickly found the ground, and she was huddled.

The wind whistled again, and it made her listen. Perhaps, to humour herself, she whistled back. She closed her eyes, and as if the wind were talking to her, making _her_ listen, she sat back.

Before long, the light was fading, and Lana was up again, heading home before she could see, and wanted to make it to the nearest lamppost before she began tripping all over the forest in the night.

* * *

Weird thoughts plagued her mind. What was she thinking?

Lana stared down at the bag she packed, not sure what to make of it. For the past fifteen minutes after she had prepared it, she contemplated if she was mad. There was no way she was running away.

But had that been the reason this bag was packed? She stared at the books she so memorized and remembered what the wind had told her yesterday. As if in trance, she had been told all that she wanted, and had been urged back out to the forest.

Something told Lana that where she was going, she wouldn't need heels. She sported her bright pink running shoes again, tied her blonde hair up, and made her way back to the place she went the night before.

* * *

Lana walked nervously to the place where she had sat, and the ground was as the way she left it, with her butt imprint and shoe scuffles.

She struggled to remember what she had done to get the wind to talk again. It had spoke first though.

Nervously, in hopes it would answer, she whistled. The breeze had stopped altogether.

She clutched her bag tight to her chest. And whistled again.

Starting at her, feet, the wind picked up. It pulled her back into the open, but further into the forest, and there was a small clearing, enough for the wind to swirl incredibly surrounding the poor girl, churning everything into the unperceivable.

Something told her she wasn't coming back. And she liked it.


	2. Chapter 2 Finding a Way

06/12/2012

**So the following chapter will be based on native American folklore and beliefs, so bear with me. If some of you are more interested that what I have merely put in the story, there's wiki pages for the Wendigo, so look him up.**

**Also you'll find that there is no set way of spelling things in the many languages of first nations people, as they were very oral peoples, so that explains some of it, because it is a relatively knew language to writing.**

* * *

Chapter 2 Finding the way

Riley woke with a start for the third time that week.

She didn't want to acknowledge it, but this was definitely a result of her neglecting her friend.

When this first started, she had been getting odd dreams. They were usually her being chased in the forest, and though Riley could scarcely remember Lana ever screaming out of fear, she could hear it in her head, and knew it was she.

Ever since she ignored the call, it had been increasingly difficult to ignore anything about Lana. She had gotten texts, a couple more missed calls, and it had been hard to go on any social networking site, because Lana was a fiend for posting things there.

She sighed and picked up her phone to read the texts. She started to feel worse as they were 'sorry' texts, but they steadily had a less cheerful air about them. Riley frowned, noticing that she sounded too glum. Depressingly so. Her mind flickered back to when Lana mentioned all of her problems. Though Riley had dashed her problems as normal people problems, she couldn't help but feel horrible.

She put down her phone, not keen on opening her voicemail box. She then went to her computer, knowing that whatever was on her mind that Lana would not speak would be posted in her blog.

Riley's brow furrowed, not much of it was making sense.

"The wind pulls me away," Riley read. "The fuck does that mean?" She so eloquently questioned.

"More sad posts." She noted, scrolling down the page.

"It whistles me come in the night." Riley was weirdly questioning if Lana was ok.

Against her earlier stubbornness to refrain from contacting Lana, she picked up her phone to text her. She waited the customary fifteen minutes for her to respond, because her friend always had her phone close by.

Riley realized that it was still very late at night. Or by now very early, and far from dawn. She rechecked the date on Lana's last Tumblr post. Three days ago. Okay, now she knew something was wrong.

The very first thing the next day, which went against Lana's rule to only wake her up early if it were an emergency, she took the other car before her sister had the chance to wake up and drove to Lana's house.

Riley knew from when they first started hanging out that Lana's parents were barely home. So she was in fact lucky to catch them before they were off to work. They were always pleasant to Riley, grateful that she gave Lana an escape when the two were younger.

"Oh, hello Riley." Lana's father said, having opened the door before she could knock. He had a coffee in hand and a briefcase in the other.

"Hi, is Lana in?"

"Yes, though I can't say I've seen her all that much. She's usually holed up in her room, so she'll probably be there."

A pang of realization came when she saw what Lana had been talking about. This man had really no idea.

"Where's Margaret?" Riley asked, referring to Lana's mother.

"She's just in the kitchen, don't worry go on up." He said hastily, fishing his keys out of his pocket and heading towards his nice car.

"Oh, hey Riley, good to see you, sorry we can't chat, we have a big case today." Margaret said, rushing out the door, in a finely tailored suit, almost matching her husband.

The front door closed, leaving Riley to a deadly quiet house.

Humbly, she made her way upstairs, ashamed by what she had said all those days ago. She couldn't formulate what she would say other than a million apologies. She at last approached her friend's bedroom door and knocked.

"Lana, it's me, Riley." There was no answer and her interest piqued; perhaps she wasn't home.

Or maybe she was, but…

Riley hurriedly opened the door, and swept her eyes across before rushing into the adjacent bathroom.

Part of her was relieved she wasn't in the house, but the other thought of the worst.

She went and sat on her bed. It wasn't made, and her room was a mess, more so than usual. Boxes had been pulled out from underneath the bed, and books and pictures were strewn across the floor.

Riley picked up that old Hobbit book that Lana urged her to read when they'd first traded interests. Riley had even brought Lana to the sports side after this phase.

It was tattered, and there were crinkles from the cover being folded over.

Next to her seat on the bed, however, was the first book. It was open to a page. She had thought about picking up the rest of the series, because she saw that it made Lana happy once, but when she put the books away and stopped talking about them altogether, so did Riley. Besides, the Hobbit to her at least, was terribly hard to concentrate on. She did enjoy the movies though.

She read a line and realized it was at that elf place meeting. Riley snorted and put the book down, and rose to walk around the room. There were several things missing.

For one: Lana. Then that girl's favourite bag. She glanced in a few of the open drawers and saw missing articles of clothing that Lana never gave a rest, save for a wash.

A chill ran through the room, but disappeared quickly, it barely registered with Riley, who was at the moment thinking hard.

Her parents took both cars, so she mustn't have gone far, since she knew Lana to hate walking to town. And she was walking since the only shoes missing from the stock were the unmistakable bring pink runners.

Lana's suburban neighbourhood was actually one of the newer developed homes, and was actually along the farther edges of town, which was near a forest. If the two friends weren't in the forest at Riley's house, they sometimes went for walks far behind Lana's.

Riley gazed out the window, which faced the far off forest. A habit which she had dropped recently to focus more on school, Lana had maintained, which was jogging.

Before she could stop herself, Riley was found on her way, already on the edge of this forest, going down a beaten path, that was probably a little grown over since they no longer travelled down it, and it looked like no one else did either.

She got to a certain point where she wasn't sure if she was supposed to turn around because the trail faded.

Eventually she saw some footprints pick up again after venturing way off course. The sun couldn't reach the thick of things here, and but the wind was able to penetrate to here, and had Riley hugging herself. It really was autumn now.

Again the footprints were cut off as they led her to a small clearing. There was nothing there, so she turned back. She had yet to eat and decided that she would try and call her up after lunch.

That evening she had a bad feeling about this whole ordeal. When she had entered Lana's room, it was as she had left it, but old, like she had been gone for a while. She had tried calling her again to no avail. Something about that clearing, she remembered feeling weird.

To calm herself, she went to the den to watch television. Her older sister was already there, watching her old favourite series, Charmed.

Riley snorted, but seated herself, and soon was immersed in the story despite her wishes.

"A Wendigo… isn't that us?" She asked her sister, Drew.

"Native?" She replied in question.

"Yeah, like I kinda remember mom talking about it." She said flippantly, just to say something.

Drew looked over, pleased to be given a chance to talk, "Ah, the Wendigo, the evil spirit out to get little girls like you."

Riley cocked her eyebrow.

"Oh, you used to be so scared of those things. Remember, baby Riwey," She used her given baby name, "don't whistle in the night. It'll only attract the Wendigo spirit."

While she spoke, Riley thought back instinctively to the weird post on Lana's blog, and snorted audibly, but she gave it more thought and was slightly troubled.

"Wendigo." Someone whispered in her ear.

Riley jumped from the couch and swore. "Dad! You suck."

The dark skinned man only chuckled, and high-fived his eldest daughter, who was also laughing.

"You two have always been in on things together. It's creepy." Riley said defensively.

"Mom, is supper ready?" Riley called out suddenly.

The mother, Irene, was the one who worked, and the father was more of a traveller, for ceremonies. He did a lot of traditional healing by going to visit inmates at the prisons regionally but he was normally at home, and before the girls started going to university, he was more or less like a homemaker. And their mother expected him to do these things.

"I thought I told your father to start it a while ago." Irene could be heard calling back sternly, but holding no real animosity.

The father Charles ruffled his youngest girl's hair before scurrying out to the kitchen before Irene could come and patronize him.

"Well as lovely as your company is, _sis_, I'm going upstairs."

"Suit yourself, _Riwey_." She said playfully, before resuming her show.

* * *

The next morning much too early for anything, Riley woke with a final start.

The clock on the side table next to her head read not yet five in the morning.

The dream she had was too vivid. Terrifyingly so.

Before it could slip away, she struggled to remember what happened.

She had been approached by something that made her follow it into the woods of her dreams.

She thinks it may have been Lana calling out to her, but the memories were beginning to fade away.

But before she had woken, she had been told instructions to prepare to follow Lana. Never before had she given the Spirit of her people any weight. Though a Creator was something that her ancestors had believed in, she wasn't too sure, but chose instead to humour herself until something spectacular happened.

A great tug at her core told her this was something.

She rushed quickly around her room gathering essentials. Judging from the sense of danger she received in the dream, she sought out a weapon in her room. She scowled as she realized the only thing dangerous enough to hurt anything was her small Swiss army pocket knife, and even the blade was a little dull from cutting open too much fruit. At least the wine bottle opener was effective. That was sure, because it had never been used, along with the other few useless things tucked in the red folded handle.

She packed clothing, mostly thick pants, and sweaters, and was about to put on her sneakers, but remembered how only Lana's running shoes were missing from her house. Lana was running from something, yet had packed. She was surely only in the forest.

She packed thick socks, her deodorant, and as many things she could wedge into the canvas.

She placed a hat on her head and steadied herself for the rushing around she just did. Riley glanced at the boots on her feet. They were well formed to her feet yet she couldn't get this feeling out of her head that what she had gotten wasn't preparing her.

Riley huffed and played with the two elastics around her wrist. She thought quickly to grab her phone to call Lana one last time, and hope that she was just being weird.

With a sigh of relief, she saw the line pick up.

She raised the phone to her ear and froze.

The only sound was wind rushing on the other line, and Riley gulped before shoving her phone in her coat pocket and running out the door to the car.

Instead of stopping in front of Lana's house, which was dead with both cars in front, she drove in behind where the only road was dirt, and to the edge of the forest. She briefly wondered when the sun rose, because if this crazy plan worked, then she did not have much time before the time slot closed. She comically paid no heed to the bumps, which caused her to bite her cheek, but she was focused.

She thought to grab the metal bottle from the cup holder. Finally free from the car, she raced through the woods with the experience she once had, and to the spot the day before.

It was deadly quiet.

"Wendigo." She called out. Not a sound.

The skies were not longer the dark purple, and were steadily turning blue. But still dark enough for now.

Riley called the name several time more, and came to that small clearing.

"Wendigo?"

She whistled finally, a long note.

The wind stirred a little. She sensed something up ahead, and her head snapped up. Trying to be unafraid, she levelled her head instead of cowering like she felt like doing.

"Boozhoo." She greeted firmly. The wind hurled at her, and if her arms were spread wide, it would have surely knocked her over. She regained her balance and called out, "Where is Lana?"

The wind seemed to hiss and settle. The intensity stopped altogether. _Perhaps_, she pondered, _I am going mad._

When she turned her back to walk home her dragging foot was pulled back. The unseen force pulled and twisted her at the same time and spun her until it swallowed her whole.

* * *

Riley rolled over, and rubbed the sleep from her eyes. There was more than she expected and rubbed furiously at the crust surrounding her eyes. She realized it must have been dirt, much to her annoyance. Wait, dirt?

She was lying on her stomach, but in a weird position on uneven ground, and when she tried to move but her spine protested from being too stiff. Right, well from the dampness she felt on her cheek, she knew she was outside. She cracked her eyes open after getting all of the dried dirt on her face. She rolled onto her back and it was cool, like morning.

She rose to her feet without interference of a wound, just stiff muscles, and looked around. The skies were overcast, and her front was darkened by dampness. Thankfully her inner layers weren't soaked through. She saw her pack a few yards away. Riley was situated near a river bank, and she spotted her gray knit cap caught between being pulled away by the current, sunken by the water, and held down by being hooked just enough around a rock. She lunged to save it, and it was unfortunately too wet to wear.

Riley wrung her hat and went to shoulder her bag and more closely observed her surroundings. In the distance, there was a tree line, but for now she was in shorter trees and shrubbery.

And not a person in sight. Wonderful. Riley sat upon a rock by the bank, and rinsed off her face from more dirt. She wet her hair and rebraided it down her back. She recalled how she had gotten into this in the first place. She had followed tracks, which were officially now dubbed Lana's tracks. So she just had to find them. She couldn't have been dumped in this area for no reason. Right? Lana had to be close.

As she was washing up, her concerns were growing. Where exactly had she been put? What had gotten her here? It had definitely been supernatural. She knew the only reason she could be here was to retrieve Lana. If the Wendigo was real, well then Gizhe Manido was real also. She would find a way out.

She circled the area she was put and it took her hours to find anything. The clouds had already dissipated and she was getting hungry. She found footprints in the dirt, rocks and plants. At first it was a distinct shoe print that could only fit Lana's foot that led away into the trees. But as she followed, she saw large footprints join in, but they were flat, no discernable features like Lana's Nike's. She grew more worried. Even though Riley wanted to think that Lana might have met up with someone who helped her, maybe she was being stalked. In a scurry, she bolted after the footprints, determined to catch up to her friend.

* * *

**For those of you worried about what the hell I'm talking about sometimes, again, its going off of Native American beliefs and lore that is specific to the Algonquin nations, which are regional to the great lakes.**

**Gizhi manido = another word for creator to the Algonquins**

**Boozhoo = greetings (kinda like Hello)**

**So in case you didn't notice, I'm doing a little bit of culture clash with natives and what is to come…**

**Please give this story a chance, and most importantly, a REVIEW. I love doze, yes I does.**

**-Sage94**


	3. Chapter 3 Unceremonious

06/12/2012

**So I hope yall are ready cause I inserted 1 more native line in there. And let me know if you're feeling it, if its new to you, you don't like it, and please write it in a review, doesn't have to be long. I'll take constructive criticism.**

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Chapter 3: Unceremonious

Amidst all of her running, Riley managed to pull a hamstring muscle.

She groaned as she tried to pick herself up off the ground. She had been excited when the tracks seemed to become fresher, and while looking down, she tripped over herself. There was not an outcropped rock or tree root in sight.

She was not always so clumsy. In fact she was beginning to rue ever giving up running and sports. She was finally able to stand emitting sounds similar to a moose call. Anyone nearby would have had no trouble finding her, especially for the last couple miles she had huffed through.

But Riley was not expecting much. In fact, she wholly thought whoever this man was with Lana was probably a hunter, given that there weren't many man made trails around, and the air was painfully fresh and pure. Sure, the clean air helped her run a jog a little longer than she expected, however, it opened up her lungs in ways she'd never experienced. _Wherever I was dropped was someplace new,_ she mused.

Riley decided on a snack. She desperately wanted that orange in her pack, but she manned up and took the granola bar, opting to save something more edible for celebration later after she found Lana.

She knew that while Lana was fast and fit, she was prone to whining (criticising by Lana's terms) and the only way that man hasn't killed her yet is by being good natured. Especially since she knew that Lana wouldn't be running. The footsteps weren't rushed like Riley's.

The skies had resumed their earlier overcast state and Riley feared by nightfall that it would be raining. Perhaps this man had the means to stay dry. Perhaps Lana had the sense to pack waterproof clothing, and not just jeans.

She knew this could be worse, she could have fully torn the muscle and wound herself fully unable to move, but Riley was reluctant to keep her leg stressed by running. This is something they were taught not to do in almost every single sport. Rest would be best, but to be on the safe side of Lana's wellbeing, she kept on their trail. Though Riley was comforted with the thoughts of Lana no longer being in too much danger.

* * *

For the day, she gave up. She had sincerely thought that the tracks were fresh, though from the little progress she had made, Riley suspected now that these tracks could be a day old. The path had also become more difficult, as more ups and downs arose.

She sat under the protection of a tree and huddled herself tightly.

She pulled out the water, and an aspirin as well as another granola bar and sat there, gradually allowing herself to become self-piteous. What was she doing?

And this happening of transportation changed everything. Everything she had almost believed to be foolish was proven right. If not right, then true to her.

Or maybe she had accidentally ingested drugs. She cautiously tucked the cotton back into the aspirin bottle and put it back into the bag.

After what felt like endless dozing, she realized not much time had passed it was still painfully dark. She reached into pocket and grabbed her phone to check the time.

She cried out as she realized the damn thing would turn on. She hadn't realized that maybe that Wendigo had done more than just displace her. It had also messed with a coveted possession.

It took her a lot longer to settle down and then fall asleep because she seemed to boil over several times.

Early in the morning she woke to hear talking. It was a ways away, but it still buzzed in her ear, provoking her inner grizzly bear. Who dared wake her up after the week she'd had?

Her nose was cold as ice, which she noted she would need to do to help her hamstring, and her toes as well.

She finally rose, realizing this was an exciting moment. This could quite possibly be Lana. She decided to check out the source, and was gleefully affirmed that it was Lana, thanks to the feminine voice speaking.

Riley decided not to show herself, still wanting to check to see if Lana was in any real danger. This man could be holding her hostage.

"Silly man, that is what we call eyeliner."

"But why would you use it?" A deep voice responded.

"Why do you use a sword?" She asked.

"For warfare, you silly girl."

"And makeup is used similarly in the battlefield called _love_." She replied defensively.

The man Boromir huffed exasperatedly, but could not express his frustration towards this odd girl, even if they were alone in a forest. For one, he was raised a gentleman, and furthermore, she was simply vexing. In more ways than her odd story.

From her perch, Riley noted the drastic change in attitude in Lana. What she was not a week ago, she had flourished into the girl Riley remembered from their youth. Except older, prettier and with boobs.

"When will we arrive, Boromir?" Riley froze. It could not be him. She more closely examined his attire, but from her distance it was easier to overlook, especially when she was initially concerned with Lana.

"Rather shortly I presume. If we press through lunch Imladris will be no great feat."

"Oh but that is such a journey," Not to Riley's surprise, the first complaint was spoken.

"Well, to a lady maybe, but I have been travelling a very long time. My legs ache for a proper seat."

"My stomach aches for food."

Riley shook her head. Not just at the typical Lana behaviour, but the fact that she wasn't even sure she could interrupt. Maybe Lana knew something about why she was here. And maybe she just wanted to see more hilarity.

After all the events that had already occurred, it was easy to sense they were not on the same earth. In fact, judging by the man Boromir it would be safer to say they were in fact in Middle Earth than anywhere else. The man bore a great resemblance to the man in the movie, Riley thought.

Right, well, this man is not yet dead, and he did say they were close to Imladris so it Riley figured it wouldn't be long before they were greeted handsomely by the grace of the elves. They were so lovely in the movies.

"… in fact, I wonder where the border guards are. They must not be expecting me, for I was supposed to arrive much sooner but I—"

"Yes, yes, you lost your steed." Lana said exasperatedly.

"But you see, we were." Came a foreign voice. "Welcome Boromir, Son of Denethor, Lord of Gondor."

"We were not expecting more guests. But I must admit I am impressed the lady has made this journey with you."

Boromir started, "Well, she—"

"Will explain herself after arriving." Lana finished for Boromir.

Riley finally understood that perhaps she shouldn't give anything away. She made to follow them but a harsh voice spoke from behind her. She felt a prick to her back. She could not understand but she knew enough not to move.

The voice repeated itself. It was male, and he finally realized she could not understand. He switched to the common tongue. "Speak fast, Harad, what business have you so far north."

Riley could not voice herself.

"I knew your people were cowardly enough to send your women off to war, but to send a women spy so far north."

Again, she was at a loss for words. What was a Harad in Middle Earth? An Arab?

"I have not the authority to judge you now, but our law will settle this swiftly."

Riley let loose the breath she didn't know she was holding and turned to face her assailant. It was a tall lean man with features sharply splayed to show his contempt. She had to crane her neck to look, and found that when she did, she did not want to look away. _This must be border patrol_.

* * *

The man, who she figured was in fact an elf, exasperatedly led her to his horse after binding her hands, and loaded her things onto a strap on the saddle and they set off to his elven city.

It was forest for an awful long time before there was any break in the leaves above, and then Riley saw the truly magnificent mountainsides and skies revealing the brilliant orange clouds. For the moment she was glad for the sight and for the relief off of her feet.

"Is that—"

"Silence, Harad."

She wanted to request he stop calling her that, but something told her that he held up his threats. Even if he never mentioned them.

She sat in silence as he entered an informal gate to the city and unabashedly shoved her from the horse.

He spoke in his own Elvish tongue and she was taken by two guards, and the elf rode back out to his post. They took her things to a different place.

A few short passages under these magnificent buildings and she was placed in probably the most unglamorous pieces of architecture the elves were capable of. The cell still had the flair of the elves that she remembered from the films but she lacked the view of the city. Her plan to save Lana was going swimmingly. She would be lucky to see her before Lana left the city. _Well that was how the stories like these go, right?_ She thought. _If I don't see her soon, then I might not see her at all._

Riley also remembered that having read the books, Lana would know events and paths and important book points, so if she were to lose Lana, then going off of the movie with no sense of date or time would prove extremely difficult if she wanted to get them back to their own world.

She did wonder how much Lana would change things. Would she play along? Would she make things easier? They were not in the book itself, it seemed, they were in the lives of real people with real pointy elf arrows.

Riley rubbed the spot where she was jabbed.

So if Lana chose to do things the Lana way, then this world may or may not go wrong.

But why would the Wendigo bring the two of them here, when only Lana wished to be here. She was the only one happy.

Now that this was known to be Middle Earth, it was clearly not meant for Riley.

To avoid overly stressing herself about that, she chose her own situation, since the elf from earlier had hinted at her fate resulting in death. Or that was the hint she received anyways.

It was a lot of waiting. How long before she was seen? She could not afford to be judged after the departure.

Riley removed her boots and massaged her feet, yet wished she could change her socks to a cleaner less smelly pair. Then to take the edge off, she drifted into sleep, much needed since the night before had been hopeless.

* * *

Before sleep had even registered in her mind, Riley was roughly called out to.

"Harad!"

"Don't call me that." She grumbled.

The elf seemed to hear her and glared before continuing.

"Lord Elrond will see you now quickly, so ready yourself, he has other more important matters to tend to."

Something bubbled up inside her. This would be the second key character she would be meeting in this world. She hastily replaced her boots as well as he could with bound hands and went to the waiting guard. This should be simple, Elrond was a reasonable elf.

The fact that they hadn't even asked for her name should have rang bells. But it didn't and if it had it would have told her that she was not welcome, and she should've expected a short trial.

The guard passed her to two more, and after long hall walks and curious stares, she was led to the front of two grand doors. The elf to her left knocked solemnly and the trio waited actually quite a bit.

The door was opened by another attendant.

"I shall take my leave," Another man (a man surely, he had facial hair and a broader figure) said.

"Please, Aragorn stay, I have only a small business to take care of, we shall resume our conversation shortly afterwards. It is of no great matter."

Riley couldn't help but be offended at the offhand speech.

"Be seated," The elven Lord commanded.

He gazed down at the small report written earlier by his son.

"Elrohir reports you were found along his patrol. He said you speak the common tongue."

Riley shrugged. The man Aragorn stood in the corner gazing out the window, clearly elsewhere.

"The penalty for such an offence, especially in these times is death. You clearly have not seen more than twenty winters, yet your people send you forth. You must know we cannot trust many of the southern races such is their history."

Riley could "get" how being so young would make this an arduous task, but was unfamiliar with the treatment of women and had to forget that about herself. She wasn't technically supposed to be there anyways.

"Answer quickly Harad. Do you wish to disprove these statements?"

The only thing she could think to correct was: "I am not this Harad you so call me."

For the first time she'd been sitting there in the swift few minutes, he looked up.

"Easterling?" the Elf Lord supplied.

"No." She wasn't sure she should even reveal what she wanted to tell him until she saw Lana. But Lana did not even know she was here.

"I am afraid there is not much you can supply me with that would prove otherwise."

Riley was again stumped, she wanted to show him things from her world to prove she wasn't from here, but they had confiscated her things. Clearly they had not taken a look inside, or else the bag could be here saving her life. Or at least prolonging it.

He was right after all.

Whatever plans Lana held, Riley could not bring herself to betray her.

Her coat was label-less, as well as everything else she wore. That was not entirely true. Her sweater had the Nike symbol stitched in small by her hip. And who else had Nike but Lana? Her shoes could save her! But had Aragorn or Elrond even seen Lana yet?

She was trapped, in a way.

Riley pondered, as Elrond grew steadily more and more impatient.

The only thing Elrond was told to look at by this Elrohir fellow was her skin. Naturally to see an enemy this far north was alarming. But what if she proved a little she wasn't Harad by showing a little of her own heritage. What little she knew anyways.

"Boozhoo." She began suddenly. "Mushkodebizhike Wushk Kwe, dizhnikaaz, mukwa dodem." She managed to stop herself before she said where she was from but she did introduce herself in her language stating her name and her clan as per her people's custom.

Elrond looked sideways to Aragorn, who shrugged.

His hard gaze penetrated deeply into Riley's.

"That is not a tongue I have ever heard uttered, in all the ages."

"That is no tongue from the south." Aragorn affirmed, fully facing Elrond by now.

"Speak more." Elrond demanded.

Riley gazed down sadly. "I cannot."

"It was not a question, this is a live saving demand."

"I don't mean I will not, I mean in terms of capabilities, I can't."

"What is your meaning?"

"My language is lost to me. But my people speak your common tongue

Elrond's eyes hardened more, if possible. "I have not the time for dealings such as these at the moment. Please take her back, I must wait until after tomorrow."

Riley did not realize the meeting would be so soon. She approached Elrond, surprising the approaching guard, and lifted her coat up and pulled the small check label outwards into Elrond's face where he sat.

"Have you seen this elsewhere?" she asked.

He raised a quizzical brow, then she rushed over to Aragorn who back up a step before allowing her to show him the insignia. His also quizzical face did not encourage her. She turned to accept the arm of the guard, but was stopped by Aragorn pulling her shoulder back.

"I have seen another lady sporting the same symbol. She accompanied Boromir into your city my Lord."

"Yes, yes, it is a symbol of hope and destiny to my people that many others have adopted." Riley supplied quickly. It was not her best idea.

"I have not seen this sign elsewhere."

"It is not terribly popular. Maybe the lady knows my people."

"Send the girl to our ladies in waiting, and see her survive them. I have not the time for this now, we must speak of other things Aragorn."

Riley anxiously allowed herself to be led away, and was not sheltered to them curious stares of the Elvish folk surrounding her on their own merry way.

She just hoped that she could intervene with Lana soon before she decided something solid for the meeting tomorrow. She had an evening.

* * *

**Ok so this is the area where I'll usually be posting translations, but as you may have noticed the perspective is limited omniscient to Riley, and I may add in Lana, but for now Riley.**

**What she said earlier was her name and her clan.**

**Her name was Buffalo Grass and her clan is bear. Which I will discuss further into the story. Again lemme know if you're interested in that kinda thing, don't be afraid to inbox me.**


	4. Chapter 4 Reunited

07/12/2012

**If anyone's looking for Beta experience, I would be happy to let someone check that I finish things correctly, and maybe even discuss things with me.**

**Anyways, I shall probably never stop asking for reviews, so PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE REVIEW :)**

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Chapter 4: Reunited

The moment Riley exited Lord Elrond's study, she exhaled lengthily for the second time. The first being when she wasn't about to be prosecuted. This still however did not bring her too much closer to Lana, in fact, she did not recognize the halls from the movies. She was led several minutes away into a different part of the keep.

She reflected back to the moments she spent in the elf lord's presence. He was as old as he seemed, but it was all in his eyes. Otherwise his outward appearance made him no older or younger than Aragorn himself. His face was severe, yet calm, and she briefly thought back to her own elders. Speaking of Aragorn, he looked everything like the scruffy man in the films. But again, she wondered how close this would be to the movies if Lana were to get close enough to the journey as to be involved.

"What is your name again?" The guard finally asked professionally. To not appear too interested, the elf was still looking ahead to their destination.

"Riley." She replied quaintly. It was not magnificent like the Elvish folk surrounding her, and he must have found it odd. He seemed to expect more, and Riley picked up. _Here they introduced the whole title and heritage shebang,_ she thought.

"I shall inform Lord Elrond."

There was an awkward pause, well, awkward in Riley's opinion. She was about to return the question when they arrived in front of a less impressive door, but still had the Elvish flair.

He knocked, and she decided now would be a better time to listen.

Another beautiful elf opened it them, and revealing a room full of other female elves, stitching, sitting and talking away behind her. Her eyes flitted to the girl beside the guard for a moment before addressing him.

"Good Evening, Valandil." Gentle giggles rang throughout the room behind her. Riley blinked as they switched to their Elvish language.

"I have orders to place Riley here under you and your ladies' supervision. Keep an eye on her, Lord Elrond will need to have council with her in not two days. Do make sure she's well cared for." He said the last part sarcastically.

"You know I will." She said in a playful haughty manner.

Riley, being under no ones notice at the moment was free to smugly grin. S_o this was how elves flirted._ It was sort of easy to recognize, even with the language barrier.

"Is she the Easterling I've been hearing about all day?" The elves eyes finally pierced their way into Riley's, startling her.

"Word travels fast with you ladies. No, apparently not East or South. That is what their council discussion will entail."

"Then perhaps I shall dig out her secrets for you. Go on now, Valandil, back to your duties." She said teasingly.

The male elf left quickly with a small smile, leaving Riley standing in the doorway.

"Good evening, Riley, I am Gilraen, and you will be staying with me."

Riley nodded. She noticed that as she was ushered inside, the ladies rose in respect but had gone silent. They speculative gazes made Riley cringe. This change of scenery was more difficult than she thought. She left one judgemental world to enter another, that was complete with their own racial struggles. And here they had dwarves and orcs. Riley at least could remember what an Easterling was.

"Hello." She began. It was a bit squeakier than she had hoped, but it broke some tension.

"Welcome to our work room, please sit down." Gilraen said.

She sat down in one of the only available seats, on a bench between to other startlingly beautiful elven maidens.

"Hi." She said to them nervously. _This is like high school all over again._

"May I just say you look nothing like any Easterling I've ever seen." A slightly younger looking elf spoke up. Instantly all eyes turned to her. Riley thought about it, and what she said sounded like a compliment.

"Nor any Haradrim woman for sure." Another agreed.

"You two are far too young to have seen them." A lady sewing said. Riley glanced at her, they hadn't once made eye contact because that elf was so preoccupied.

"Well I have, and I do have an eye for features, and none from those areas she possesses."

"Such as?"

"Well she is rather tall for a mortal woman." The woman speaking rose to stand near her and look upon her. Riley wanted to look down, she was not really used to being so speculated. "Stand, girl and show them." Riley stood again, anxious to not be seated next to such beautiful women. But she was excited to be proven different now that it was a bad thing to be Haradrim in these parts. She noticed that even though she may have been considered tall, everyone around her was close to her height.

"See? And her brows are not so heavy and thick. Her skin does not have the deep red or sallow undertones the two cultures are known for. Her height is not trademark for them." She was encircled by the woman. "She does not have their body type either."

Riley was going to say that people come in many shapes and sizes but was worried that would harm her case.

"Well then where is she from?" Someone asked.

"Yes, she has such… different clothing style."

A woman came and felt her sleeve. "Indeed, I've never seen such fabric."

Gilraen sensed an encroachment and decided it was best to pull Riley from the discussion. "It is not for us to decide I am afraid. We will find out soon enough how she came to be here, but you're scaring the poor girl."

Riley sensed her tone was a tad condescending, but was grateful she was being taken away. So she could plot.

"I will take you to a room. It is quaint for now, but I am sure that once this ordeal is settled, you will be welcomed into the houses of Imladris as a true guest." Gilraen beamed.

"Will I be allowed to walk around?" Riley asked. She self suspected she was being a little too hasty.

Gilraen paused to quickly purse her lips. "I suppose I can take you some places you'll need your fresh air, but things are going on that even I am not allowed to know of."

Riley was relieved that she had confessed that or she might've gone off blabbing about the ring that _really_ no one should know about.

"And I expect you will be hungry soon." Riley nodded furiously, suddenly very aware of that.

They came upon a room. It was at the end of the hall from the maid's main chamber.

Whereas these elves considered it quaint, small and shabby, Riley was oddly accustomed to it, the room couldn't be a foot in any direction larger than her room at home. It was beginning to get dark, and Gilraen rushed inside to light key candles around the room.

Oddly, upon her bed the bag was set. She wondered if anyone had gone through it. Most likely, but she knew there wasn't much other than necessities. Well modern necessities.

"Right. Well, in celebration of the many Lords that are finally all gathered tonight, there is a feast, otherwise we would be simply going to the kitchens. That much I am allowed to tell you. And I shall return with more clothing."

Riley knew her best bet to be allowed any liberties, even though this elf was lenient, was to stay in line. She did not like the idea of being untrustworthy, but she needed to see Lana.

She had to ask though, "What is wrong with my clothes?" Riley knew there was a great deal wrong technically, but still pressed.

"My _dear_ Riley, we are attending a formal engagement, I will return with the proper attire. If you must know, even those amongst my rank are going in our best clothes. And please do not leave. You've proven yourself thus far, but it will be my reputation if you run off." She then left swiftly.

Riley quickly followed her, intent on poking her head out the doorway, but the door was locked. _As it should, I suppose,_ Riley thought. "Nothing too tight," she yelled.

Riley returned to her bed and placed her clothing in the small drawers, having no intention in going anywhere. Though she anxiously hid her defective electronics under the mattress. _Can't have that._

* * *

Gilraen came in a short half hour, and she was already prepared, which took Riley by surprise, and wondered how any other elf could "top that". Her dark chocolate locks were somehow sleeker and the her skin was glowing. And the figure displayed by the soft green dress she wore was breathtaking and Riley was sure her girl crush had just changed from a mortal celebrity to this elf.

The elf set two dresses wrapped in cloth upon the bed. Riley opened the folded cloth coverings and stood back to observe. She immediately lunged for the one to the right a dark hunter's green that would blend her in with the night and she could slip away more easily.

"You must humour me by trying both. Besides, you could be with an old stern elf who would rather you wear dress up to your neck in wool." Riley shrugged, it did not sound like a horrible idea.

"Please try the blue one on first, I chose it." Riley had no doubt this elf had chosen it. Judging from what Gilraen was wearing, this dress would be an ordeal.

She turned her back on the elf. Lest she fail at explaining the zipper, she took it off like a pullover, then the her sweater and the loose t-shirt. She kicked off her fading leather boots and stood in just her black leggings and sports bra. She was lucky she was not afraid of undressing in front of people, since the dressing rooms of sports were no place to be embarrassed.

"What is that?" Gilraen asked.

Riley turned with a questioning look. Which of her clothes would be subject to explanation?

Gilraen was staring at the spandex material covering the girl's breasts.

"Um, we call it a sport's bra. It holds the girls down so you can do sports things." Riley internally rolled her eyes at her poor explanation.

"Like a binding cloth?" Gilraen asked.

"Sure." Riley afforded.

"Well, these dresses have the bodice sewn in, so you may remove it and I can help tie the back." Riley groaned since this was like prom all over again.

The blue one was tight. "I'm flattered you thought I'd fit this, but I'll be lucky if I can walk into the feast, let alone be the perfect display for your styling techniques."

Gilraen analyzed. "Well, it does wonders for the chest area. And its not _that_ terrible."

"See, that would not be bad if you hadn't said terrible." Gilraen relented on the choice, and began to undo the back lacing.

She at last put on the hunter's green dress on. "I cannot wear this and stand next to you." She said honestly. She wasn't posing a compliment, Riley genuinely felt out of her element.

"Thank you, Riley, but if you're going to arrive with me and my friends, you will not look like a beggar." Riley looked down at the pile of clothes she had worn. She could not argue much.

"I'm doing my own hair, though." She said.

Gilraen reached up and tugged it away from the high bun and with expertise styled it to her liking.

This elf seemed to have no inhibitions, and did simply what she wished, which included coming within Riley's personal space. Riley kept telling herself it would be worth it. Lana would definitely be at the dinner.

"You don't have to style it yourself, you have me. But if you care, the looking glass is in the corner. I will be a few short minutes I am simply going to put the other dress back in its proper place."

The elf left quickly, and Riley bolted to the mirror. She noted with disdain the middle part, and quickly arranged it to a side part and tucked it her own way. If she had one objection it was that no one interfere with her hair. Of what she had, it was something she took the most pride in, and people could tell. The black hair was almost never not presentable in an unkempt way.

But when she looked in the mirror again, it was looking for something more. Even in her reality, she constantly compared herself to others. She would never let anyone know that fact, but it was a destructive habit she possessed. Since she was not the classical or conventional beauty she often overlooked many other things.

Riley pulled herself away from the mirror and sat on the bed fretfully awaiting Gilraen's arrival.

* * *

She sat at a table of very considerable less importance, though everyone else had grace almost equal to the king. She and the other maids were one of the last groups to arrive and were unnoticed for this fault because of the general splendour of the event and people were still walking around before the food was to be served.

The occasional glance at her from her table occurred, but she was soon ignored.

She was quite a ways away from the head table, slightly obscured by a pillar, but not totally hidden from view. Perfect for people watching. The head table included Lord Elrond, a female elf, and two identical male elves. She instantly knew the female was Arwen. Her breath hitched as she gazed upon her, and her chest pained from looking upon her. She glanced over at the two twins, and anger registered within her as she realized it was Elrohir. Though she was impressed that royalty was not subject to special treatment and were expected to serve their people, she was still annoyed.

Their table was not imposing physically, but you knew that they were the royalty by the dynamics of the room. The tables situated around them Riley could recognize as the parties of the people that were to attend the council tomorrow.

Glad her back was also more angled to them she could observe everything more and be ignored to her choosing.

The people started to settle down, and it was easier to observe her surroundings. Where the pillars created the illusion of a hall, just passed them, the room was open to the night air. So it wouldn't be so hard to slip away for a second.

When all was quiet and the air was pregnant with excitement, Lord Elrond stood. "Greetings. Tonight we honour our dignified guests once more by offering our hospitalities through our wealth of food. Let us feast together in these times of peril and pray that our unity will bring us closer to our goal. Enjoy tonight, for we may come by uneasy times still." He sat, and servers emerged from the outskirts, presenting platters to the main tables first, then to the tables on the outskirts eventually.

It was for Riley hard not to stick her head out from her table and just observe the crowd, but she did it while people were preoccupied serving themselves. She thought she spotted Lana finally, but it was another elf. Upon closer inspection she realized it was Legolas and a few of his company.

"Already got your eye on a certain elven prince?" Gilraen whispered to her.

"What? No." She muttered back, though was still searching.

"Good luck, it's you and every other maiden in this room."

And Riley really couldn't argue with that. She had been wrong to think she was incomparable to Gilraen, because there were at most a hundred other elf maidens more or less as attractive as her. _You'd have to be a total babe to get with anyone on the fellowship,_ she mused. "I'm not—"

"It's alright, Riley, I'm only teasing."

"Yes, of course." She mumbled, embarrassed. She finally spotted Boromir. His unmistakeable height set him apart. And behold to his left hidden by his bulky shoulders was Lana, bouncing animatedly as she spoke to him.

There was little Riley could do to catch her friend's attention without drawing every eye in the room. She decided to just calm down for now. Rushing everything could ruin this. She ate in silence, since the maids at her table found it more comfortable for them to speak in Elvish. Not that she minded at all, she was content to plan ahead a little. She had not noticed she was finished her food already in her determination. She tried to remember what she had eaten. There was some deer, root vegetables with herbs, a lot of healthy grains prepared nicely. Riley appreciated the look of them, but stuck with what she could recognize, which was the meat and some vegetables. And mashed potatoes. That she could spot a mile away. But all she could think of the food was that she wished there were more salt. Nobody else seemed to notice.

The plates were beginning to clear away after an hour and a half of feasting. Riley looked down at her stomach and cringed, she was lucky she was laced in, but she felt like she would burst. She had eaten more than she cared for without even noticing!

People were rising to stretch, it seemed, but Riley was content to sit and digest for a little while longer.

"Come, we shall break I need to relieve myself. Then we shall return for a while longer.

"Please let me stay, your friends can watch me." Riley pleaded. She raised her glass for one last sip of the amazing concoction.

"No, for Valar's sake, you're under my care."

Maybe Gilraen pulled harder than she should have, or Riley had a poor grip on her glass, either way the goblet was dropped, clanging all over the plates and utensils. The room was quiet enough to allow that to be amplified. Gilraen paused and dropped her grip. Riley pulled her chair away from the table and stood, and avoided the dark red liquid that was now dripping onto the stone.

Riley also paused to look around and many eyes were upon her. She sat back down, blushing furiously.

"You wanted to go, you say?" She asked finally, when everyone's conversations resumed. She glanced over her shoulder to see Elrond staring at her. _He's probably not had anyone so clumsy in his home in the entire history of Middle Earth._

"You know what? It is fine, you'll be alright here without me." She said apologetically, taking her leave.

Well if that hadn't drawn anything to her, she wouldn't know what to think. This definitely cut things to the chase. She would soon be reunited with Lana if her friend had noticed that.

Riley looked back again at Elrond, who had finally turned his attentions elsewhere.

She scanned again, and two blue eyes locked with hers. Riley didn't know whether to be relieved or not that Lana had finally seen her. Lana's eyes were widely surprised, and that girl could not bring herself to move.

Riley mouthed the word "hi." And before anything could be done, she left the table quickly to catch up with Gilraen up ahead to accompany her to the washrooms. She would need to find them later.


	5. Chapter 5 Meetings Part I

07/12/2012

**Sooo-o-ooo what do you guys think so far? This chapter, as well as the last four chapters were more establishing. This chapter, I'll be explaining certain things and hopefully justify their opinions of being there. **

* * *

Chapter 5 Meetings

Lana beamed from across the room when she got over the initial shock. This could prove more interesting.

Slowly rising from the table with little notice she intercepted the path of her friend.

"Damn, Pocahontas."

Riley, caught at unawares could only retort, "Don't call me that."

"Fine, but if we don't pick up any elves tonight with these get ups, I'll be a monkey's uncle."

"Lana, we need to talk, big time."

"Of course we do, isn't this great?"

"Listen, we—"

"And did you see Boromir's muscles?"

"Not lately."

"Good, cause I call dibs. Anyways, how did you get here?"

"That's what I'm trying to—"

"The food is incredible. This place just makes me want to—"

"Shh," Riley whispered, finally able to intervene, "here's not the place. I have a room. I'm not allowed to walk around, I'm being watched." Riley paused to look beyond the pillar's blocking her from view.

"What have you said about yourself?" Riley asked frantically.

"Chill, I have handled things so far. I'm at the head honcho table, aren't I?" Lana responded.

Riley couldn't help but notice how despite the obvious short factor to Lana, she was as gorgeous as the other people in the room. That and her personality gave her away as a human.

Riley clutched her head to settle herself down, "Okay, but there's just so much to discuss."

"I know, like I can't wait for tomorrow."

"Lana, we can't." Through a stare, she conveyed all the can't's.

Lana sobered. She stared blankly at Riley's serious face, before frowning. "What? But that's the whole reason I'm here, right?"

"Then why am _I_ here?" Riley retorted.

"Well, I never took you for a big fan."

"They were good movies I guess," Riley replied.

"They were, weren't they?" Lana mused.

Riley waved her hands, stopping Lana's chortles short. "I'm not that big on it. Haven't you even wondered how you came here?"

Lana's eyes glazed over as she thought back. "For like _one_ second, then I saw Boromir and haven't looked back."

"Well you need to, something's very wrong here." Riley whispered.

"I'm doing fine, if things go the way I plan, then I could be outta here on my own adventure." Riley looked on her friend sympathetically. Lana was tearing up towards the end of her justification, but swallowed it back.

"We'll talk more about this later. For now we need to keep a front. Like I said before, I'm being watched."

"Why?"

"Hello, only brown skinned girl in the room."

Lana sniffled, and wiped under her eyes, "I thought you were looking quite pale lately."

"Main point, they thought I was some Harad from the south. You know more about this place than I do."

"Oh, I should have known! Well, at least you're not in the stocks." Lana said brightly.

"Yet." Riley said sarcastically.

"There's a dance after this, if you go to your room later, I'll follow."

"Why later?" Riley asked.

Lana winked and twirled as she said, "Because I can't just wear this gown and leave the men wanting more, silly."

Riley snorted, glad her friend was back to her old humour.

"We should separate, I'm supposed to be on my way somewhere." Riley said, back to business. "It would look weird if we suddenly knew each other."

"I guess. See you later. Oh and what's the sign you're leaving?"

"I don't know, nothing blatant. Oh, oh, I'll have a coughing fit."

Lana was already turning to leave. "Perfect, see you later."

* * *

Riley was walking towards the general direction of where she thought Gilraen was. She had thought before to turn back and be seated but she was far too lost now. She ended up in a room that seemed more like a passing point. There was a statue in the middle holding a tray. When Riley approached it, she realized that it wasn't the tray she so plainly dubbed it, it was a platform holding a sword, broken into pieces.

Bells rang in her head, this was that special sword. Names had always escaped the young woman and it drove Lana crazy when she wouldn't put much thought into what she called things.

Riley knew she wasn't that far from the festivities, but she thought the stone bench near the statue looked like a nice place to digest, figuratively and literally. _Too bad there's no way to loosen this dress._ She leaned back onto the bench and rested her feet on the rail close by._ Gilraen is going to give me a good verbal beating when she finds me, _she thought.

"Riley, is it?" A voice said.

_Who's asking_, she smiled, and kept to her napping, when suddenly her sense of reason quickly overcame her. Voices come from people. People have eyes that can see how ridiculous she was being.

Riley snapped upwards, but her foot caught on the rail where it was rested, and she landed on the floor. Her eyes that had originally shot open, searching for the source were now clamped shut as she landed on the floor. "Yes," she blurted. "Who's there?"

"I am Aragorn, son of Arathorn. Are you alright?" He was now just steps from her, since he hurried over to help her up. Luckily, Riley did not see the smirk on Aragorn's face from her vantage point.

Riley blanched as she saw him offer a hand up.

"I've never been better. Don't worry, I don't bruise easy." She rolled her eyes at herself as she leaned on the bench to get up. "Well, this is embarrassing."

"Indeed it is not yet midnight." His dead-serious tone caught her off guard for a moment before she smirked as well. When she did not reply, he continued, "Are you lost, my lady?"

"No." She said with a wave of her hand. "A little bit. Okay, I lost my Gilraen. I mean, my maid, her name is Gilraen. Well, I'm not sure she's a maid, she—I'll stop talking." Riley blanched. She was making herself seem crazy in front of the king of Gondor.

"Where was she headed, you seemed to be on your way confidently for a while?"

"The, um..." She wondered if they used the word toilet. If not, then what word? "Latrine?" She guessed.

"I'm afraid you're on the wrong side of the building." Riley didn't want to narrow her eyes at royalty, but everything he said was had an ironic tone that teased her with his composure.

"Well no sense looking for her now." Riley shifted nervously on her feet. "Can you just tell me how to get back to the feast? Please."

"I'm on my way back as well, I will accompany you." The suggestion was cordial enough, but Riley knew better than to question it. Of course he had followed her. It was not his duty but he was suspicious. For the better part of the day, she was the second most threatening thing in this area. The ring automatically took precedence, obviously but she was a danger. And now, he would escort her back, probably to make sure she wasn't up to any treachery.

* * *

They arrived back at the celebrations, and just before they entered the main area, Riley's eyes bugged, because there along the sidelines pacing was Gilraen. Riley froze as Gilraen made eye contact and with murderous eyes marched over towards her. Riley looked to her _escort_ and he did not move straight away, but waited until Gilraen arrived at them.

She bowed, "Thank you my lord. Where did you find her?"

"She was looking for you just along some hall ways."

"I hope it was not a trouble."

"Nay, my lady, in fact I shall not mention this elsewhere." Riley nodded at his promise, hoping it would lessen the wrath about to appear.

However, the look on Gilraen's face was unforgiving, even after Aragorn bid farewell and left.

"You are so lucky he's not going to let anyone know about this."

Riley nodded along, and followed her back into the main area. They had already cleared the tables, and moved some to provide beverages near the front of this hall.

"I suppose I better punish you," Gilraen said offhandedly, "You may only stay for three songs before I take you back to your room."

Riley admitted to being glad they would not be staying long, and waited in the back upon a chair for them to finish. However, the first song and dance literally took fifteen minutes. She grumbled and crossed her arms as she observed the dancers from her seat as she realized almost every single elf in that room was dancing. The only ones who weren't were resting with a drink, and even some of that group launched back into the songs.

Riley looked to the front of the room, and noticed that no dwarves had stayed for the dancing. _How did dwarves dance?_ She wondered.

In her rove over the crowd for the dwarves, she unintentionally came upon a tender moment between Aragorn and his lady Arwen who were tucked hidden to the left of the players. Her heart softened and she rested her elbow on the table next to her to gaze. Riley lamented over the fact that they didn't know they would overcome things. The couple glanced around before walking to the outside pavilion.

When she finished thinking about them, _they were going to get their happy ending_, she looked down at herself. She's not even in her own world and she's still obstinate about not dancing._ I don't even know their dancing style_, she thought in defence to her self-criticisms.

Finally after three extremely long songs, she stood, making herself tall so Gilraen could spot her easily.

"There you are, right where I left you." She said brightly. Her glowing cheeks were tinged pink, and Riley suspected it had to do with a certain guard, Valandil. "Right well, let's be off quick, I want to make it back before the next song ends.

Riley didn't point out that Gilraen could easily run back and forth one hundred times between her room and the dance before the song ended. The players had paused for a moment, but were going to resume in a few moments. Riley panicked as she realized she almost forgot about the signal.

She wasn't sure where Lana was, but she wanted to cough before the music would drown her out. She stopped walking to build up a cough. Steadily she grew louder until every elf close enough was certain she would rip a hole through her lungs or spread disease amongst them. For the second time that night, she made the place silent as they stared.

"Here, drink this," Gilraen said nervously because of the staring, and shoved a tall cup of water in her hand.

"I'll be ok, let's just get out of here." Riley looked to the crowd as they were leaving and saw Lana's head bobbing in between people, approaching them.

* * *

"Well, I suppose I cannot lock the door on you, but please don't go wandering around. There are some latrines are just across the hall, so please limit yourself to that. There is water on the table in the corner."

Riley was secretly glad that she wasn't technically lying by agreeing to the conditions and was genuine with that. Gilraen was satisfied and left happily to reunite with her friends and someone else in particular.

She shut the door, and it wasn't long before another knock.

"I said no room service!" She called out.

Lana peeked through the door, and grinned ear to ear when she saw her friend. "You rang?"

Riley was about to remind her that there weren't going to be any phones here, but smiled anyways. For the start of this conversation she would be nice.

"So?" Lana said, sitting next to Riley on the bed. "Ou, your bed is stiff." She wriggled on it and scrunched her nose.

Riley shrugged, it wasn't bad considering she was upgraded from the dungeons. "Who did you dance with?"

"I managed to drag Boromir to the floor." Lana said plainly.

"And?"

"I was lucky to have him because when the music started I couldn't look lovingly at his face like I wanted, I was too focused on not stepping on him and not bumping into the people around us."

Riley snorted and patted her friend's arm. "I'm sure you were charming."

"He laughed at me twice and suggested we watch the other dancers before we start again."

"How will you show your face again?" Riley asked, falling dramatically over her friend's lap.

Lana smirked and shoved her off, "It is merely a stepping stone to transferring my charm. Besides he will be mine soon!" She finished diabolically.

_One Lana to rule them all. _Riley fixed her hair out of her face and sobered. "But he dies," she said quietly.

"According to the books." Lana insisted.

"And the movie."

"My point, like I said before, is that I'm here for me. Why would I be here to be a good girl and let them be? Not only is that boring, but by being here I'm already changing things, so I can't be wrong to think that I should be going with them."

Riley was silent for a long time, mulling that over. Lana was right. But _her_ own point stood as well, "I'm here too, and not because I wanted to be here."

"Then come with me! I know things, so I can help you!"

"But that's exactly why I'm here! I came after you, to help you!"

Lana's brow furrowed.

"And you are changing things, so me being here must be to caution you. I've been thinking: How can our actions and presence not cause a ripple? You saving them won't protect them for long. Boromir might be alive for the battle, but die later in the war."

"They don't have to know that."

"I can't keep everything about me a secret. Soon they will ask questions, and how can they not question you?"

"That's why I make friends with the gang, invite you along and we continue on our merry way. There, you can watch over me, and we can save this world."

"I can't go along, I've never fired an arrow like you, the closest thing I've touched to a sword is a kitchen knife. I almost cut my finger off in the eighth grade!"

"But you have other helpful things. You're stronger than me, you're agile, and you're native, you can like hide in the bush really well. And you know things about the bush I would never know. I could tell them you're like a shaman or medicine woman!"

Riley shook her head,_ there are so many things wrong with that statement. _"We're not all like that!"

"But you're pretty close! I met your grandma once, I think you're covered in the knowledge department. And please, I'm only faster than you because I couldn't stand being compared to you."

Riley blinked. She was planning a retort, but swallowed that back up. That was the last thing she expected to hear, but she didn't respond to it not wanting to change the subject.

"The fellowship is going to be severely disappointed in their healer."

"Is that a yes?"

"No."

"But that wasn't a no." Lana said hopefully.

"Correct." Riley said, again shaking her head. "But if we're going to tell them anything about us, it has to be a lot or very little, and I have a feeling that they won't settle for very little."

Lana pursed her lips. "They could know where we're from."

"They're already dealing with a dark lord, I don't think now's a good time to mention that their world is penetrable by outside forces." A questioned burned inside of Riley that she struggled to push away, not willing or ready to deal with it at the moment.

"As much as we think they can handle."

"You're really settled on this aren't you?" Riley questioned.

"As you are to your opinion."

"Are you going to tell me what your plan is?"

"Partially…"

"Just don't get me killed."

"Will do." Lana rose from her seat and headed for the door.

"But Lana. How did we get here?"

"A dream, right?"

Riley smiled for show, but decided now was not the time to tell her friend about the Wendigo. Nor the time to face her own questions.

"Let's go with that for now." And for now Riley was content to think that things would be alright with the knowledge of this world Lana had, even if she might have to run halfway across it to help save it.

The moment the door closed after her, Riley pushed back the empty feelings in her chest to try and sleep on what little comfort she had.

* * *

Lana rushed down the halls, making her way back to the party. Quite gleefully in fact. Things were going as planned, and she was determined to follow through. Everything over the past two days had increased her joy, she could scarcely remember feeling any other way before entering this world. She was slightly put out by her friend's speculation, because what was there to speculate? Lana was there of her own accord, and if her friend thought it would be a good idea to follow suit to "protect her" then so be it. Even after their fight, Lana was still willing to count themselves friends.

_Maybe_, Lana ventured a speculative musing, _this was Riley's way of asking for forgiveness_. Perhaps Riley felt guilty for Lana leaving, so she felt responsible and came after Lana.

Lana mussed her waves to perfection, happy to be only a little way from the event.

"Good evening." An age old voice offered.

Lana's breath caught in her throat as she turned to her left to see Gandalf leaning against a pillar. Had he been there before?

Lana curtsied horribly, but as graciously as she could muster. "Good evening master Gandalf, did you enjoy yourself tonight?" They had met already, when she had been in Boromir's company while the two males were introduced.

"Yes, unfortunately I am not as light on my feet as I once was." He smiled.

Lana was not quite sure what so say, but Gandalf did not provide room for awkwardness and kept on, "I will not keep the young from their pleasantries, please to not trouble yourself with an old man."

Lana laughed and curtsied again, before heading off.

Gandalf stood erect and pulled his pipe from his sleeve to load it. He mulled over the curious sight he had seen. He had a strong feeling about this Lana, and was not sure if it was terrible or not. He walked outside and stood next to another figure, who was gripping.

"They cloud my vision."

"The unexpected arrivals?"

"They are similar, yet I have not known human races from this land to mingle amiably with one another."

"You think they know each other?"

"Quite amiably, I fear. It does not bode well, Gandalf, they must be stopped from whatever they hope to accomplish."

"Perhaps they will provide rather than deter. I have met with the one Lana, and she does not pose ill will. And the other I don't think she is of a threatening nature as you say."

"We cannot afford as we once did, any mistake will affect the greater good of this world's future."

"Let me meet with this other woman tomorrow before our council, and we shall see what she means by being here."

* * *

**I thought it would be interesting to pose both of their opinions as contrasting, since they go well with their personalities respectively, and they discuss what many other OC's think going into Middle Earth. So please, again, tell me what you think so far in a, like, 10 second review.**

**-sage94 bros**


	6. Chapter 6 Meetings Part II

09/12/2012

**Greensaber92: I like you. And not just cause you reviewed first. Well, actually that is the main reason. The second being you reviewed second.**

**On with the show…**

* * *

Chapter 6

Gilraen was glad when she checked in the room that her charge was soundly sleeping. The scare from the night before had rightfully been resolved thanks to lord Aragorn. Although she didn't trust fully that her little human was looking for her, at least he had promised not to tell on her, and it hadn't been someone like a guard or Valar forbid Valandil, who would have reminded her for many millennia of her mistakes, which she seemed to only make in front of him.

The next morning she woke the little human to come with her.

Gilraen noted how dejected-looking she was, and wondered if her punishment was too harsh. No, it couldn't have, for she gave the human ample time to mingle with others. But then, maybe she was missing something? Her own perception of happiness must be greatly different than this human.

"Are you well, Riley?" Gilraen had always struggled with simply calling the girl Riley. There was just something about the girl, no matter how young that demanded for something more than a simple name.

The girl in question stared at the floor for a second or two more than was comfortable for Gilraen, who was beginning to worry.

She suddenly snapped her head around the room and then lazily fell back onto the bed. _So that was it_, Gilraen thought,_ the girl was just being lazy._

"This would not be tolerated by an elf in the house of Elrond. Come on you lazy girl," She started not unkindly, "you must accompany me on my chores. And if you show an aptitude for them, then you may help me."

Gilraen noticed the girl looking out her window, and Riley sighed.

Taking an unintentional hint, Gilraen also gazed out the window before continuing, "I'm supposed to fold the linens today, but perhaps we can take them outside and work there."

Riley nodded, excited that maybe she would get to see more of this beautiful place.

"Settled, then. I shall take you to the main courts. They're quite lovely in the morning."

* * *

Since they were not exactly attending anything spectacular as the night before, Gilraen reluctantly consented to allowing Riley to be in her own clothes, however the elf was worried for the girl and that she would gain unwanted attention.

Just like when she first saw Riley's stylization of her hair, she was pleasantly surprised she didn't want to fix her clothes. They were odd, but had an eye not distasteful.

The leggings were dark, as well as the oddly buttoned gray blue shirt that seemed to have pockets everywhere. Gilraen was not sure if she wanted to learn more about this girl, but she was certainly perplexed by the style. She looked at her boots though, and thought, _those old things have to go_.

Riley walked out of the room comfortably, ignoring Gilraen's blatant staring.

Soon, Gilraen snapped out of her stupor and led Riley towards the drying lines and handed Riley a large weaved basket lined with cloth.

"Hold that out while I retrieve the linens." She said and within minutes, Riley was up to her ears in fabric, as the sheets were piled higher than the poor basket or Riley could handle.

Gilraen laughed wholeheartedly at the sight but was quick to help her and carry the excess.

Down at the courts, there were a few of the elves already about the area, but Gilraen tutted at that fact. As she predicted, very little work would be done this morning.

"Well I guess more room for us, little one." She said to Riley. Gilraen was secretly relieved that she wouldn't have to face the staring, even if they weren't directed at her. To her surprise, the young woman had dealt with the event well. The only time she had seen the girl mope at her surroundings was when she reclaimed her and escorted her to her room after the dance. So at other times the girl was hiding any inner feelings quite well.

Much opposing Gilraen's suppositions, Riley felt she had made quite a fool of herself these past two days. She couldn't stop herself from gazing around the place with wonder, but kept her jaw from falling open and left the wonder to be expressed by her eyes instead.

When the two finally sat, the sun had fully risen over the mountains and Riley was for the moment not worrying so much.

It sorted out that Riley had no choice but to help, much to dismay. Most of the cloths were too long to fold on one's own.

When the job was done and the linen fit perfectly in the tall basket, Gilraen consented, "You may wander around in this area, but I will be watching."

Slowly, Riley walked out into the court. She preferred to think of it as a park or an elf-style tea garden. She marvelled at the way that the stones were built around the trees, and in return, the plants seemed to grow over and between them.

She braided her hair back out of the way as she knelt on a small bridge. She saw no one around, especially this early, and she knelt down, and then looked down into the water below.

The stream was slow going and she sighed, reaching down to splash it. It wasn't long before she realized she was on her stomach and watching it, playing over images of her mother and father. Even her annoying sister. It was going to be a long time until she would see them again.

That was another she didn't want to answer at the moment. How was she going to cross back over?

She splashed the water again in frustration. But she didn't regret following her friend, which was one thing she wouldn't give weight. She just wished she knew what she was getting into.

She could sense another person, watching her and for a long time she didn't acknowledge them, just waited to see what they wanted but they didn't move yet. They _were_ quiet though.

Riley eventually looked around and spotted an elf. But she was surprised to see it was Arwen, the princess.

The elf approached her, and though Riley tried to fight it, looking upon this woman hurt her. _Well, female elf._

The evening before didn't do any justice at all, and much to Arwen's mild dismay yet another fell victim to her beauty. Riley took one last stare before looking down, determined not to put herself through that stress again. "What is it?" Riley said.

As if nothing was amiss or bothersome, Arwen replied, "I am Lady Arwen, daughter of lord Elrond. I came to invite you to a council with my father."

Like a shot, a memory came to surface.

_One afternoon, a crying Riley ran through the front door of the Archer residence, her sister Drew in hot pursuit._

"_It's okay, Riwey, they didn't mean it! They don't know better!" the older girl cried. The two of them were not older than twelve._

_The first to feel the emotion was the father, whose youngest daughter's head came hurtling into his stomach as she latched onto him._

"_What's this?" he asked._

_Drew began, "At school, Riley got—"_

"_They're so mean, Daddy? Why?"_

_Before she could wipe away the second set of tears, Riley's father was knelt before her, grasping her firmly yet gently by the shoulders, staring straight in the eye. "Deep breaths, sweetie."_

_It took a little longer than anticipated, but he did not waver his calm caring stare and waited. _

"_Dad, they stopped me in the halls and—I didn't know what to say! What do I say to them? I can't, I didn't know, and—and they hate me dad. Why am I different?"_

_A billion more questions burned through the little girl, but she didn't know how to say them._

_The father closed his eyes and took a deep breath._

"_Dawnis, you can't change who you are," He began. "I'm going to tell you the truth: there might be more people who will treat you the same way, but there is one thing I do not want you doing is reacting to them. That is what any bully wants, is a reaction. I raised you better. So do not go out into the world thinking everyone is against you, but I will teach you what you must do."_

_The girl blinked, almost angry her father wasn't going to go out there and protect her, but eager to know why._

"_You cannot change who you are because that is how the Creator made you. He made us all equal. One thing he did not make us with was with a spitefulness, a vengeance or evil spirit. You must never change yourself for them, for they changed themselves to become the way they are. We have other ways than that to teach someone their faults."_

"_I will tell you something my mother told me when I was young: When you look at someone, do not look at them from their means, their wealth, or what you think they have that you don't. When you look at them, you will look into their eyes, and then you will see the truth."_

"_That doesn't make sense Daddy," Riley said._

"_It means that you must not judge a book by its cover, you must look inside." He poked her small round belly and elicited a giggle from the finally calmed girl. "And then my mother said: "Don't be sad, we'll have some bannock, it will make you feel better, boy.""_

"_No she didn't." Riley said with a toothy smile._

"_Where do you think I got my belly from, Dawnis?"_

Sometimes, she tended to forget the things her parents told her, but it pained her to remember it so suddenly. But she knew why she remembered it.

Slowly, Riley looked up, but only limited herself to looking into Arwen's eyes. The grey eyes were beautiful too, but much more tolerable from when instead she let her eyes rove over the elf's whole being.

Arwen held back her mild shock, and returned the gaze, looking into the deep brown, almost black eyes of the woman in front of her.

"Alright," Riley said finally.

Arwen bowed, then led the way to her father.

* * *

Throughout the journey, she was led through the subtly more regal part of the elven city, and she found herself questioning Arwen.

"Lady Arwen," She tested the title, yet it was still odd to say, "why did you choose to lead me? I mean, I'm honoured since he's your father and all, but Gilraen or a servant could've done that easily, right?"

"You are right," Was all she said for some time.

Turning another corner, Arwen finally said, "I heard about you and wanted to meet you."

Riley wanted to ask what she had heard when Arwen finally arrived at hall and to the left past the open wall of the passage, a small ring of stone chairs stood, making Riley's heart pounce. Arwen surprised Riley by turning into that court and before Riley could enter, she sputtered out, "I thought we-we were going to his study?"

"He has another council after yours so he suggested holding yours here instead."

Despite Arwen's guileless statement, she couldn't help but suppose Elrond was planning something different and frightfully more serious.

* * *

Arwen left promptly, and before Riley could walk in, Elrond was revealed to be in his throne, staring hard at her. Reluctantly, she followed her father's words and matched his gaze. His quirked eyebrow did not escape her and she tried not to shrink.

Riley side-glanced to Elrond's left and paled at the sight of Gandalf. He was facing outwards, smoking his pipe.

She did not doubt he knew she had arrived, but she cleared her throat anyways. "You wanted to see me?"

"Do you have something to tell me?" The demand was clear; there was no denying him. Riley was the first to break the gaze.

"What do you mean?" She asked nervously.

"I mean, is there a reason for you being here?"

Riley had so many questions herself. _Could you be more specific,_ she thought. "Erm, yes."

She only realized now that Gandalf had turned to listen, and now two intimidating figures were staring at her, her father's lesson escaping her confidence for the moment.

"Let me put some things to words. Do you know the lady Lana?"

"Yes."

"And do you come from the same place?" He asked.

"Yes."

"For goodness sake, child," Elrond started, but stopped himself.

"Perhaps, Riley, it is best if you answer these questions fully, with explanation." Gandalf said.

Riley cringed. _It's everything or nothing._ And as she had said earlier, they weren't going to like "nothing".

"I'm from a place called Canada." She went with this explanation, because then it would be easier to say the English names that went with Lana's side of the story. "And there, it's multiracial. B-but we're all human."

Elrond's eyes shot up alarmingly. Not only to the fact that she probably made up this country, but he could not imagine such a place with mortals gathered harmoniously.

"What did you mean when you said you could not speak your language?" Elrond asked, trying to remain patient for this slow, conflicted girl.

Riley sighed. _Short version or long version?_ "We may be together now, but before, our _races_—" she felt weird saying that, "—were at war with one another. At one time in the beginning, my people occupied a large amount of land that another sought to develop. At first dealings were friendly, but when it was too late, it was realized that they did not intend to leave and we could do nothing. They stayed, and for four hundred years, these pale people encroached, imposed and enclosed the way of life my ancestors had. We are the Anishnabe people. That is just our tribe, there are many others like it, all across the land."

Elrond seemed less than impressed. Not at this story, but at the fickleness of man, that turned brother against brother. He was right to suspect that they were not in accord. "Then what did your people do?"

"Well, when the first settlers came, disease was brought, that we'd never encountered before. Wars started, people died. When a government was settled, it excluded us."

"And I understand your people are few?"

Riley quickly realized where this was going. She wanted with all her might not to be considered weak, but this was the way the history went. "Our practices were banned, gatherings were banned, at one point, even the right to raise your own child was taken away. But we still stand. Try as they might, the practices did not go away. I'm still here. Or I was there," She realized. "Now I'm here."

"These plights of men do not surprise me. And yet here you are as you say."

"But don't pity me. It defines me. I owe my past everything. I still carry much from it."

"This is but one part I wanted to know. But how does this bring you here?" Elrond asked.

"I followed Lana."

"Is this Lana from the same Canada?"

"Yes." She admitted. "To save her."

"You protect those who caused your people great harm?" Gandalf asked. His arms were folded, and his arm was still posed to smoke his pipe.

Too late Lana realized that she helped give him an opinion about Lana and _her_ people. "No, no, it's not like that. Lana, and so many like her don't think that way anymore. Things are changing. They're still a little uneducated in some areas, but it is to be expected that some people are ignorant. In a good way. Not everyone is taught about our story."

"But your people still don't know their culture?" Gandalf guessed.

"No. We're in a transition of sorts. Things aren't catching on that quickly. Just like your world, we aren't without our problems still."

"What do you know about our world?" Elrond said, quite alarmed still.

Riley froze. _Damn. _Slowly but surely, she tried to clamber out of the hole she just dug. "Well, like you, Lord Elrond, sir, I-I'm not without my gifts. I, er, know things." Riley bit her tongue. She just gave another bit of knowledge away.

Lord Elrond's eyes flared dangerously. "Speak, human, about what you know, and speak carefully." Elrond had risen from his seat, though not taken any steps towards her. Gandalf was also resisting shaking the answers out of this impossible character.

Riley recoiled, wishing she had the comfort of a chair because of her wobbling legs. "Only if you let me wholly explain how I think I arrived here."

_We have no time for theories,_ Elrond thought.

"Well in my culture, we have myths, stories, legends, like you. We have beliefs, like you. Or truths, whichever you prefer." She quickly amended that last part, "So, we have this, shall we say, demon. Dark spirit, evil spirit, whatever." _Well, not _whatever_, it was clearly dangerous enough_. "I think it had the ability to pull Lana out of my world and bring her here. First. So I think it pulled me in after her."

"What was this beast called?" Gandalf asked, settling a little, but only to try and accept her story.

"Spirit. We call it a Wendigo." As if it was listening, a chill ran up her spine. Though instead of only the chill affecting her, the skies turned dark, though the clouds were sparse. She slammed her eyes shut to make it go away, and when she did, she opened them to see Elrond and Gandalf looking at each other hard.

"In a way it reminds me of Sauron, you can imagine." Unbeknownst her, Gandalf side-glanced Lord Elrond and they shared more worrisome looks. "It's known for being evil at its core. Until now I didn't think things like it were possible."

Elrond had started talking over her, "Gandalf, we cannot stand this. There are outside realms able to enter ours. What more power does the enemy possess that we do not? If what she says is true, then we are doomed. In her realm, the evil is able to cross oceans, and it is simply executed by men. Who is not to say that if Sauron rises to power, he will stop with Arda?"

Gandalf stood still, and pensive.

For Riley, it suddenly went white.

She turned, and realized it was not her vision, but her surroundings that had changed. She could still see her body.

"Gandalf? Lord Elrond?"

_As you have said before, Dawnis, there can be no good without evil. _

It may have sounded like her father, but it resounded deeper within her.

"Who's there?" She called.

_The Wendigo spirit cannot take place without me. But, if it is allowed to consume Lana, then it will. It is helping the Dark forces here hoping to gain power and return to hurt our people. _

"Then help me stop it!" Riley cried.

_I cannot pass between worlds fully as he can._

Riley listened but was afraid to admit who the speaker was.

_Do not be frightened, my Dawnis, for I have chosen you because I knew you would be strong for her._

"No, no, I can't do it without you, Dad." Riley realized she was crying. It couldn't be her father. "Gizhe Manido."

_Mushkodebizhike Wushk, do not give them power. You must face the Wendigo to return to me._

"How did I get here though? I want to go home."

Riley listened for that voice, but she realized that colour was returning to her surroundings, and she was back to the council.

Her tears were non-existent, yet she knew that there was nothing false about what had just occurred.

"But, Lord Elrond, I know why I have followed her." Riley had been right. She _had_ been sent along to protect her friend, but not brought along by the trickery of the Wendigo. By its immortal enemy it so tried to defy. "The war does not simply concern your world."

"There are still so many questions about you that are left un—" Gandalf started.

"I don't mean to be belligerent, but they will have to wait if possible. That ring of yours will be of more importance to your world than me if we play this right."

* * *

Lana woke the next morning with a terrible headache. Against her self-promise, she had had more than a few glasses of wine. She briefly wondered how she ended up back in her room. She raised just her head and looked around, and then dropped her head back down, knowing that she was supposed to be awake to get in the ready position to sneak into the meeting.

At that realization, she rolled out of bed dropping to the floor and crawled to the dresser and pulled out some of her clothes.

Lana glanced down at herself and realized that she was still wearing her dress from the night before. She pulled down the weird underclothes of the elves and slid on her other pair of clean underwear and leggings over top. Next, practically ripping off the laces, she then pulled the dress over her head. It tugged a little, and she tried to pull again, but it was caught in her messy hair.

She heard the door open and blanched.

"My apologies, I thought you might still be sleeping. I will fetch the maid instead." A reddening Boromir said.

Lana, who was still stuck under the dress struggling, replied a tad angrily, "You will do no such thing. Get the knife in the corner, just cut the piece off of my hair. It's stuck."

"My lady, are you sure, it's your hai—" He began.

"I just want out of here." She spat.

Boromir appeared indignant, but had learned in the very small amount of time they were together that rank held little meaning to her. He tried to imagine a woman at his court ordering the son of the Steward around, and it wasn't likely. He wasn't sure why he dealt with her, but found a great sense of accomplishment afterwards and then she was content and quiet. Yes, that was it; he did it to satisfy her and his nerves.

He did as he was prescribed and as quickly as he could disarm an orc, she was free from the bonds with a short snip.

"I will let you change and then return when you are ready," he said, and with a huff he exited the room.

She grunted in response, still feeling the after effects of the previous night.

Lana pulled the under dress off after discarding the first and rolled on her bed again to hide her face from the light.

Her window the night before was brilliant, with the stars and moon shining through but today the sun scorched her and made her want to crawl into a hole. Preferably with a ginger ale and ibuprofen. And a big pot of stew. Of course she had to go and ruin her experience by getting hammered her second night in paradise.

She sighed instead and pulled on a long sleeved shirt, then a hoodless sweater.

"You wanted to see me?" She said irritably. Well, irritably in Boromir's eyes. Lana thought she was being as charming as possible, but the drink had affected her so.

"Yes. But only to deliver news. Before his council, Elrond requests to see you." Lana's eyes bugged for a second, before they sluggishly returned to a composed state.

To her, this was worse that her mother calling her name and not knowing why. There at least she knew everything to be relatively mundane. Painful but mundane punishments. Everything ran through her mind as she raced to figure out why he would request her. She thought her guise as simply Boromir's riding companion would do her a little longer until she could sneak into the council later that day. Maybe she drank too much at the party and was being kicked out.

Lana ultimately knew though that she was going to be questioned, just as Riley predicted.

"When?"

"Well very shortly now. You would have been notified sooner but earlier you requested me to go 'shove it' which I am guessing is offensive to your kind, so I graciously followed order and waited to return. Here we are now."

"Sorry." Though Lana was much too hung to say it with any weight.

Boromir did not respond, and bowed before turning and leaving Lana where she stood.

"I don't even know where I'm going."

"A maid should provide for you just fine." He called over his shoulder, thoroughly annoyed.

Lana squinted as she looked away from Boromir and was so aggravated by the light, she didn't even notice his tone. She muttered something about needing sunglasses, but continued on.

She didn't go on much further before she had to sit down and curl up. Elrond be damned, she would rather face an entire orc army than face this hangover.

Against her judgement that she needed sleep, she groaned from her spot on the stone floor and went in the general direction of where she supposed she was needed.

She happened upon three figures standing in the bloody morning mist in annoying light, but there was no denying that there sat Elrond. There stood Gandalf. And there stood Riley conversing with them.

"So you see, Lord Elrond, I cannot allow our world's forces to join with yours." She heard Riley say. Lana stared, and decided now was a good time to interrupt and shoot dagger stares at Riley who decided it must have been a perfect day to ruin her schemes.

"Welcome, lady Lana, though you arrived later than I expected and without an escort." Lord Elrond announced. The other two participants turned to stare as well, Riley with shock and Gandalf with intrigue.

"Yes well, I got lost and… so did he…" She responded, referring to her escort Boromir. Raising her arms in question, she started, "So, what is the meaning of this? And who is that young—"

"Cat's out of the bag, Lana." Riley stated, a little guiltily.

"Oh." Her arms dropped.

"Riley here was just stating that we should not kill you. In fact, we should do everything in our power to make sure you are ready and able to help fight with us against the evil forces of Middle Earth." Elrond said, with a touch of bewildered amusement.

Lana blinked and said automatically with gratitude for her friend, "Then Riley must be there to help fight this evil, Lord Elrond." As was her plan this whole time.

"Precisely what I had in mind," Gandalf said.

Elrond did not answer, still fearing much about this.

"Well?" Lana said softly. "What about the council starting in a few?"

"Go to the kitchens and seek out a cook, they will help remedy that _headache_ of yours. Return within the hour, the council is to begin mid-morning." Lord Elrond said holding his own head in his hands. "What shall we tell the others at the council? You are mere women."

"Hey, I am a champion sprinter from the realm of Canada, and Riley here is a young celebrated medicine woman from the tribes of the Anishnishbleh."

"Anishnabe," Riley corrected. Though she nodded to Lana's self-description. She was the fastest in the region.

"It will take more convincing than that, you understand. I will take a great risk by introducing you." Lord Elrond said and the girls nodded soberly. "What we decide for the ring will have to include thee."

"C'mon then, Riley." Lana called, already close to the hall.

"In a moment, there's something else I need to ask about this place," She replied. As Lana started away, Riley turned to the two males, "They cannot know about the Wendigo. Not one," She whispered. "In the quest to destroy the ring, it could tip the scales, people might be frightened if they knew they were fighting two forces."

"Then you must be the one to defeat your own demon, for we have little provisions to supply for both battles." Lord Elrond said. Riley hesitated, had his foresight seen it? Or was that just a figurative statement.

"But aren't you worried about my knowledge?" Riley asked as she turned away to leave.

"You have already wondered it yourself. I have seen a failure in many different ways. If you being here affects the outcome as you say, then you must do all in your power to mend it."

Riley left the council finally, not realizing how stiff she was from standing so long, and actually talking about herself. Things she had never contemplated in her wildest dreams were coming to pass, and she was powerless in her eyes. But she couldn't be, if what her encounter with the other side had told her.

She just had to find out what that was.

"There you are, finally." Lana said sternly, "You, missus, have a _shit_ ton of explaining to do."

Riley frowned, not look forward to the amount of lying in the next short while she would have to conjure to Lana.

* * *

**Dawnis - daughter in the ojibwe/anishnabe**

**again, please pretty please review! :) **

**-Sage94**


	7. Chapter 7 Meetings Part III

**Sorry for the delay guys, it's been like a week, right? ah, um well i'm done uni until the new year, and guess whaty what? it was my birthday on the twelfth so bombard me with gifts, reviews and follows and stuff. kidding. but this is kinda my excuse for not being consistent, especially since finals were around too.**

**also, i would absolutely love for people to sign in with pennames so that i can personally address a review because i love you guys.**

**anyways, i hope yall like this chapter, this is the last "meetings" titled chapter... i think haha ;) **

* * *

Chapter 7: Meetings Part III

"So, like what the fucketh?" Lana demanded frantically as soon as Riley caught up to her.

"Pardon?" Riley asked, while unimpressively looking down at her attire. That would have to change for the experience she was going to go through.

"They said nothing to me, short of "be on your merry way", I was expecting questions; questions I was prepared for."

Riley sincerely doubted that, but humoured her friend. "Like?"

"Well, for starters, how were we beneficial to the team. Eleven is better than nine I always say." Lana said, rubbing her hands together.

"You just said that now." Riley said dubiously.

"And I'll keep advocating if it happens to keep us on the road."

"Elrond was worried about me being here, so I told him that you and I were related by the country we come from. Like Sam to Frodo, I am your Sam. And he is more concerned about us being here than our threat level, which is minimal and comparable to a teddy bear punching a mountain."

"Those are unrelated." Lana said, shaking her head, "But what did you say to them?"

"I just so happened to save your ass." Riley muttered.

"What did you say though?" Lana heard, but she pressed without being insulted.

"For this to go on, for me to follow you to the end of this, for it to run smoothly and so forth, you have to promise me you'll listen to me."

"But—"

"The things I said I swore to them and myself I wouldn't say elsewhere, it's too dangerous. If you knew, it could affect everything."

"Is it big?" Lana gushed, hugging her friend tight.

"I'm not telling."

"Is it gonna affect how I run things?"

"I'm not telling." Riley said, finally brushing her off.

"Does Boromir have to die?"

"That's less related but probably changes a lot of things that are going to happen."

"Aha! So it is big." Lana exclaimed triumphantly.

"Lana, we have to go on this adventure anyways. But we have to take care, and we have to stick together. I wasn't going to tell anyone because no one can know how we got here. Elrond and Gandalf handled it well enough as anyone who's seen it all could, but imagine how everyone else would react if they found out how we got here."

"You told them?"

"I had no choice. He was probably going to kill us because we were foreign and interfering where we shouldn't be. If it helps, I'll probably have to tell you eventually, but like, there are people around here Lana, people with sharp swords who probably wouldn't be too keen on us."

"You won't feel so bad after we get this show on the road. It'll be hard but like the experience will be amazing."

Riley's stomach turned thinking about it.

Lana was quiet, making Riley nervous and more anxious to find the kitchen or a maid more quickly.

"But you're letting me do this, right?" The blonde asked slowly.

"With conditions, woman." Riley snapped, reminding her.

"Sure, sure," She said, but internally crossed all her fingers, having her own plans. But she had no idea just how big this was.

"Just a question Riley, but how are we going to hide this from the fellowship and to the enemy when they find out that the nine become eleven?" Lana asked.

"I think Elrond was going to figure that out. It's going to be pretty impossible to keep them of the dark. Gandalf can't just tell the king of Gondor to stuff it."

A while later, after discussing Lana's abuse to alcohol the night before, they found an elf maiden who pointed out the kitchens, leading them part the way.

"You know, it's really difficult to distinguish if they're servants or not, I mean like, they're so damn good looking." Lana explained all frustrated.

Riley shook her head and went into the kitchens where she heard animated chatter.

"Sam, tell Merry I only had two."

"Pip, Sam wasn't even looking, so you can't make him—"

"Precisely, Merry, so how is anyone to believe you either?"

"Oh-em-gee. I can never get enough of these guys." Lana whispered to her friend. She proceeded to walk further into the kitchens while Riley waited uncomfortably by the door.

"Ey, it's Pip!" Lana said loudly. Said hobbit turned, smiled and approached the girl.

Lana held out her hand low and the hobbit ran to slap it, eliciting odd looks from his companions.

"It's how they say hello where Lana's from." Pippin said knowingly.

From the door Riley held her face to her hand.

"Who's that?"

"My faithful steed, her name is Riley." Lana said matter of fact.

"Good day, Riley." The young hobbit said, going to high five her. She offered her hand amiably enough but was unnerved by the skeptical looks by the hobbits behind him. She knew it must be weird to be seeing this different coloured human even if they had never left the Shire before. So the rest either nodded their acknowledgement but Frodo, the one with the biggest eyes, had eyes full of mistrust. He didn't blink once, Riley thought and broke her gaze with him even though it was a short staring contest. She was not used to looking at people all the time, in fact lately back on earth her nose was buried in a book, a dreaded textbook or her computer screen. She had even avoided looking directly into Elrond's eyes while telling her story, looking beyond them so she could focus without having him and his old eyes criticizing her directly.

Her stomach curdled again, and she accredited it to being worried about how she was affecting the journey and little Frodo. This hobbit could be changed once seeing her.

Snapping out of it, she realized she was staring at the floor, and she thought that maybe her stomach was only curdling because she needed to eat something.

"So boys, what's good to eat?" Lana said, finishing Riley's thoughts.

* * *

Seated in two chairs alongside Boromir, who had already risen out of his seat, Lana looked onto the scene before them in excitement, whereas Riley's eyes were wide with fright. Both dressed in more appropriate clothing for the council, courtesy of a maid sent by Lord Elrond.

So the fellowship was declared after a long seating. They had even witnessed the comings of Merry and Pippin.

"Come on, now's our chance." Lana said, almost jumping up before Riley held fast her friend's arm.

Riley shushed her friend, "They're planning something, and we can't speak up now."

Lana settled for the moment but was eager to find out about the plan and where they came in. All had volunteered, all nine. She knew and had the utmost positive feeling they would be going on the adventure but was disheartened in this moment nonetheless. Lana had always pictured herself volunteering heroically. She tensed her legs in order to remain in position.

"Nine companions. So be it. You shall be the Fellowship of the Ring." Elrond glanced sideways unto two seemingly unassuming women. Disguised for the meeting as companions of Boromir and the race of men they sat and listened in. They did not go unnoticed. It took a great deal of restraint from several people, including Boromir to question what women were doing here, even if he knew Lana for a short while. Not one person had outright spoken to them, for everyone was fixed on the ring, and this took precedence over everything, even almost overshadowing Frodo, when he spoke for the ring.

"Great, where are we going?" Asked Pippin. Lana held back a guffaw as she had been anticipating this line if nothing else.

The delegates not among the nine finally stood, approached the fellowship to wish them well, though most reluctantly. To most, if this journey were executed one step too left or right could jeopardize the outcome of Middle Earth.

Eventually, the girls left as well, and were met with a maid, who wished to escort Riley to her room to gather her belongings and be led to a more welcoming room, and Lana along for the ride.

Elrond stood firmly, watching them be led off, not at all eager to inform the group of his plan. This did not go unnoticed by certain taller folk of the group. "Stay, Fellowship, I have news." He said grimly.

* * *

The following day, in his grand study, Elrond turned a sceptical eye onto Mithrandir, who had been invited for a discussion.

"What do you see that I cannot?"

"Only what she has expressed herself. Our adventure seems to be hindered in a most unexpected way, but through it I see light."

The previous day, Lord Elrond had to inform the Fellowship that they would not be travelling alone. In a most intricate way, he had managed to avoid telling all, yet informing them of two accompaniments, and he was gracious for the compliancy.

"_Our fight for the destruction of the Dark Lord Sauron has attracted all reigns of evil. It has no longer been left to this land for the destruction of the ring. I am introducing two companions to the journey, but holdfast your judgment for the moment because I must caution you: they are not apart of the nine. One of them has informed me that they have sensed this evil, and as decorated people from their land, they have been sent to aid us."_

_Boromir was the first and only to laugh. He finally sobered to realize much to everyone's dismay that the Elf was serious. "Women, fighting for their people? What sort of country north of Mordor seeks this defence?" The man asked to the open._

"_They are not so warriors as you or I can commend, Boromir, son of Denethor."_

"_Boromir seeks the truth, I wondered why they are here also." Aragorn spoke, much to the shock of Boromir, who had earlier insulted the heir to Gondor._

"_A magic has awoken within their people set into play by Sauron that has forced them to come to our aid."_

"_Not just women, my Lord, but merely children also." Aragorn argued._

"_Lana is not so young," Pippin protested._

"_Hold your breath, young hobbit, were it not for their presence, you might be ousted as well for your youth." Elrond cautioned. "But it is true, they are young in appearance, but they possess knowledge not common among women their age in this land."_

"_Can they fight?" the elfling Legolas questioned._

_The dwarf piped in, "Throw an axe?" _

"_Or indeed, wield a bow or sword?" Boromir added._

"_I know of a magical presence, not unlike Mithrandir." The wizard nodded his assent, surprising everyone in the group. "Not as wise, controlled or concentrated, but enough for me to think they are adept. I have met with them. They have deemed our evils to be dangerous enough to their welfare. The world puts its trust in you unknowingly, I ask of you all to trust my last judgment before you are off."_

"_This journey, for a woman…" Aragorn said nervously._

"_Training can be easily arranged before your departure." The elf Lord said slowly. "You will meet altogether in the court to become acquainted with them."_

_One by one, the fellowship returned to their habits each even more unsure than the last. Elrond's forehead weighed a little more with each passing. Riley's and his façade need only last until this hopefully short journey was over._

"You will keep a close eye on the youngest girl, Riley. I fear she may not know what exactly she faces." Lord Elrond said.

"But we do not either, and so we cannot condemn her."

"Which is what I fear. She knows things I know not, yet somehow less. I would advise her that we keep her here to prepare her for her own evils and even learn more about her home but she seems adamant in remaining with her companion." There was a pause as Elrond returned to his thoughts. "The group must remain known as the nine. If her demon knows of her lady Lana's arrival, then he hopes that Lana is to be the undoing of this world. It must not know the other mortal is here."

"Indeed."

"I have often thought of herding them out of the way, even slaying them. But I fear that this will not eradicate the demon from here, and without knowing fully its abilities either. Keeping them here will only succeed in prolonging our suffering and perhaps allow the evil to grow exponentially."

Lord Elrond turned to his balcony and moved to stand next to Gandalf who was already there, watching the happenings below. Hidden in the private court below, he watched as the one, Riley struggled with the sword, taking uncoordinated swipes. She swiped again, but Elrond leaned forward nervously as he saw the other, Lana approach her friend and come too close.

"She seems to know a great deal about this Wendigo." Gandalf said hopefully, also joining the elf to gaze down below. Lana had dodged just in time, and was on the ground, laughing.

"However if she is to continue, she is to tell us how she intends to be rid of the demon. I cannot say she is evil thus far, but if she is protecting us, her methods will be speculated. There is no ring for this demon, no connection other than to Lana. And she continues unknowingly so."

"This information could harm her, perhaps even prompt her to stop her journey all together." Gandalf suggested, coming to thoughts of avoiding the girls altogether also.

"I think, though, that this is what Riley hopes to maintain as a secret, and I must agree."

Gandalf let that weigh in, and spoke, "Indeed, if Lana were harmed by this, Riley might stop fighting the demon altogether. She seemed reluctant about everything without Lana being her driving force."

"Precisely. I fear we have little choice but to allow them to help us with our cause. We have a common enemy with them if the Wendigo seeks hold in Sauron's forces. Which I fear has already taken place."

"Such business it must have here. Perhaps it hopes to rally power." Elrond said, gripping the stone balcony.

"If the Wendigo found a way to our world, once it has gained power with Sauron, its design could be to return to their world with him." Gandalf delved, fearfully.

"You were with Saruman before arriving. Was he knowledgeable of their arrival? Perhaps we can gain a sense of how much the enemy knows."

"He did not mention them, nor make reference. The two had arrived after the event, but I'm sure the Wendigo will not hesitate to tell the Dark Lord of their arrival."

"Something about the way Riley explained her case… It did not seem as though the Wendigo had any knowledge of her arrival."

"Indeed, sent by the good in her world to protect. We will do well to keep it that way. If she is to defeat the Wendigo, then it must not know of her, perhaps not until it is too late."

The two kept their position from above, unbeknownst the girls below.

Riley dropped the sword after the scare of killing Lana, and laughed nervously also, but secretly wished she could hide her face and go curl up in bed, hiding from what she knew she must face.

"I am barely outside, and already you have decided that the sword is not worth your while." Boromir said, tightening his wrist braces.

"It was heavy," Riley said plainly, quickly tucking her fear away.

"Indeed, an orc will surely bow out graciously when his lady's arm becomes tired." He said sarcastically.

She picked it back up to prove him wrong. Riley was not weak, but after months of focusing on school, her muscles had begun their atrophy for lack of exercise, and the sword was no toy stick. In fact the heaviest thing she'd lifted in the past year was her textbook, and the last extension of her hand in a sport was a hockey stick.

"Show me your stance at the ready." Boromir said bored. When none of the girls responded with action, he looked upon them worriedly. "I suppose we have a longer day than expected," He said, thoroughly not amused.

* * *

**ok so i know that there are still questions to be answered, these guys aren't just gonna be like OKIEDOKIE LETS GO, so once again, bear with me, things will be explained a little more hopefully.**

**please leave a review nonetheless if there are things you think i should cover. since this story is OC with not one but two of 'em then let me know if there are some things you think i should address when it comes to keeping them there. It was really hard to think of a story that was legit, even though its a fantasy fic. Or even review if you're liking things going down. If its too fast, too slow, let me know, tell me how it can be done, etc folks.**

**alright thats my momma.**


	8. Chapter 8 Star Struck

**Ok, I'm quite sorry that I haven't updated earlier. But like I'm pretty glad that everythings over with. I finished university a couple weeks ago, but like I live a badass long time away from my family so I had to pack and shit and prepare to move back for a few weeks before the new term. Then like Christmas and stuff so ya I shopped like a champ. Screw xmas shopping in November, xmas eve shopping is the way to go. And ya.**

so I shall have to thank my reviewers.

**thanks **_**March**_**, even though you're anon**

**Thanks **_**Song in the woods**_** and **_**Honor**_

**thanks** _**Vivstar**_**, and I'd like to explain that I'm sorry he sounded so creepy, I just wanted to stress the gravity of the situation. I just wanted them being there to be a big problem because they're not supposed to be there. He's got his people, the journey and in effect everyone's lives in middle earth if they throw off the journey, yaknow? Hope that clears it up a little.**

* * *

Chapter 8: Star struck

That whole day the company if eleven had spent making small talk and in the case of Riley, Lana and the hobbits, some mild acquaintance with weapons.

Lana stood to the side with Legolas as he lamented his apologies to her for believing her ignorant to the bow.

"...Well nowhere near enough the skill of the elves." She said seriously. She was explaining some of her talents, in hopes to impress a little so they would respect her more. Riley rolled her eyes as she saw this more of an attempt to kiss-up, though very subtle to anyone else's senses.

"Thank you for the compliment. Nonetheless, it is a start for you before we begin our journey. I'm very impressed." Legolas tested. He looked over to the hobbits, three of whom were enjoying some food.

* * *

Riley only listened on how to hold the sword and stab for the time being but was content to not be the centre of attention though was wary of the attention to Lana because she hoped no one would exploit her, whatever that would entail. Lana was altogether too open and inviting personality-wise and that could mean a chip in her plan on being secretive since evidently people would want to ask her questions about herself.

Anyways, Legolas was rather pleased that another member of the fellowship had taken to the bow, and was even more so when he realized he would be coaching someone.

She in fact stood alongside the hobbits for a while, finding it easier to blend in with them when she was with people who she thought never hoped to use a sword. Struggling to remember, Riley thought back and could only recall the hobbits ever fighting was in the first movie in Moria. But for her lack of focus on truly trying the sword she found the hobbits were more adept with the blade. Dumbing herself down to remain unseen was not an option she supposed if she was going to survive.

A couple hours later, they felt it better to move onto other weapons. Swords were better to be carried by the hobbits but if the girls showed talent for the bow then the rest of the company did not mind at all two extra marksmen.

The hobbits returned to their doings and Gandalf had accompanied them and soon it was only the four and one elf practicing in the archery range. Gimli had opted out of this practice as well.

"Aren't these weapons just beautifully crafted? And these are the just the dull old ones." Lana whispered, loading an arrow. Riley had not really noticed but was pleasantly surprised by that and also drew an arrow.

"So like, are they going to watch us shoot?" Riley asked, though she was more concerned about herself and the dismal display that was about to take place.

"Indeed, Riley, we must evaluate your skills before we can continue." Legolas spoke, making Lana jump; she forgot he had sensitive elf ears.

"Well maybe I'd prefer a sword." She called back anxiously and lowered the bow.

"Have you ever shot an arrow?" Aragorn asked.

"No," she said slowly.

"Well then how do you know you won't like it?" He asked.

She knew everyone was looking at her, and incredulously at that. "Because, ok?" She said, feeling her cheeks heat up.

"Just watch Legolas's technique. Then see after you shoot for a decision." He said reassuringly. Riley couldn't help but snort despite herself. _How was shooting after a guy who was hundreds of years old plus experience supposed to make me feel better?_

"Here, I'll give it a go before you, Ri." Lana whispered. "I'm probably going to be a disaster."

Riley knew that was a severe understatement, she'd seen Lana shoot and she was rather good. The bows were simpler here but she doubted that Lana wouldn't be able to adjust.

Legolas stood square to the target slowly so that the girls could observe easily. When he shot it hit the target dead centre and Riley exhaled exasperatedly. Great.

Lana followed suit just off a target ring and nodded to herself.

Riley groaned and stood, best imitated the stance and was glad her lead arm allowed her back to be to them. She released and the arrow left the bow successfully but hit the ground five feet to the left of the target. She wasn't too preoccupied by that because the string snapped across her forearm leaving an angry pink patch of skin.

"Well it's a start." Boromir said, clearly holding back a grin.

"It was pathetic that's what it was," Riley said whole-humoured to diffuse the building tension. "Maybe I'll just watch for now," she added.

The conversation moved on to Lana's praise for which Riley was grateful. Without any reprimands needed for staying in line, Lana handled herself well, not giving anything other than her character away.

Instead of watching intently, she sat to the side and let her thoughts overwhelm her.

Home is what she often thought of but she knew it was a matter of time before she couldn't bear the thought of it. Thinking about it now didn't affect her the same as it probably would.

After some time, Boromir came to sit down as well.

"I do not care for the bow either." He said.

Riley winced. If there was any person she did not want to talk to, it was this man. She nodded and looked elsewhere.

"Your companion, Lana, she is a spirited one." Again she nodded, and Boromir was almost discouraged, but he had far too much previous experience getting what he wished, especially from the female population. So he pursued for more information.

"I did not see how you two could be from the same nation, but now I see the resemblances are similar, like your speech."

Riley, who had been facing a different direction turned an ear to him realizing he would not stop until she responded fully. Sighing loudly, she started, "Yeah, she's a keeper."

"We're you two delegates in your land?"

"Oh yeah, not me, just Lana, she's practically royalty. I'm like her escort." She said slightly sarcastically. She bit her tongue, not believing she said it out loud but she thought it couldn't hurt too much to risk a little sass in their back-story.

But Boromir did not seem to detect any of the sarcasm and was amazed. "It was as I thought, then."

"Sure." She said, and went back to staring. _Sure ya did, big guy_. He seemed sated enough for now, and she suspected he was seeking information about Lana, because no further inquiries were made about _her_. She was not surprised that Lana would be drawing this much attention and her 'friendship mentality' was glad that Lana was getting towards objective: Boromir. However she was obviously nervous for that reason as well. Lana couldn't reveal personal things to these people who were in a way from the past, and he was supposed to die anyways.

She resolved to later confront her friend about it. Lana could pick anyone else but him, if they would have her. Riley went through all the eligible men in the movies and whistled lowly; _there was that nephew, Éomer but he was like gonna be a king or something_. She almost thought of Faramir but that man liked Éomer's sister.

Lana could always go with that pale snake guy from the second movie. Riley chuckled, but would seriously never let her friend anywhere near that creep.

Unbeknownst Riley, a worried Boromir still sat beside her, trying to ignore the girl's troubling random noises.

* * *

Later that evening, Riley returned to her room once Lana made it clear she wasn't going to be leaving the targets any time soon.

Upon entering her room, she spotted someone rummaging through her things.

"Excuse me?" She asked. The person was the elf, Elrohir from before.

In an amused yet indignant fashion, Riley crossed her arms expectantly. He cleared his throat. And stood up straight but a glare was settled in his face.

"Well I'm sorry for bursting in on you like this." She said and moved in to grab her things out of his hands. He had the ibuprofen and the pocket knife, which she ripped the former from him. He pulled his other hand away just in time.

"I was investigating."

"Oh my, the scary human." She muttered and tried to grab the little red folded up pocketknife away. "Did lord Elrond send you here then?"

He grudgingly said, "No." He lifted it out of her reach.

Exasperatedly, she gave up for now, "Well then get out of my room."

"What is this material?" He said, feeling the outer shell of the handle.

"If lord Elrond is fine with me, then I expect his son to respect my privacy." She jumped one last time across his body to get the little thing and she did so successfully.

When she went to pull it back, he gripped her forearm and held fast.

"I came to see why all have seemed to have accepted you. Such a strange being that is so far from home. How could anyone throw away the fact that you have come at such a peculiar time?"

Riley struggled in his grip and decided to reach for his arm holding the knife. She begun to dig her nails into _his_ arm and he let go of her arm. Seeing her chance she jumped up and held his fist trying to pry it open. He tried to shake her off him, and sent her flying to the bed.

He walked over to the bed while Riley struggled off. Catching her by the neck, he stopped her and flared, "I will not allow my father to have you and your kin here to ruin everything." Her feet had almost touched the ground so he lowered her and she kneeled to ease some stress, though his grip was not lessened.

"Ruin what?" She squeaked out, trying to pull his hand away. _Damn you elves_, she thought.

He hesitated, "I will find out soon enough."

"Brother, stop this." A distant voice commanded.

The grip was released and Riley wiped her eyes to reveal Elrohir's twin. Aladdin had Lana before mentioned?

"Elladan," he breathed. "I was just-"

Elladan had run over and helped her up and took the device out of his hand and threw it on the bed.

"I am sorry, lady Riley, my father will be notified of this discrepancy." He said bowing, and he followed his angered brother out of the room.

Riley let out a deep breath, and was glad to be rid of any speculation for the moment. She could not wait for their journey to start soon, then she would only have to worry about so many people.

* * *

The next day Lana was back at target practice. Her aim had improved from the small amount of time but Legolas had taken it upon himself to stay and tutor her.

Riley avoided elves while on her way to find Lana, and also whenever possible since they still took to giving her odd looks, kind of like how they looked at the dwarves.

Even though it made her uncomfortable, she allowed her maid to dress her in regular female clothing, which unfortunately constituted a dress and weird bloomer-like underwear. If that's what you could categorize it as.

"Lana." She said simply, as her friend released an arrow. It landed far off to the left, and she grumbled.

"Don't startle me."

_Because that's how its gonna be out at war. _"Sorry. But, I need to talk to you."

"One second, girl, I'm busy." Lana said with a twang.

Riley huffed, but waited off to the side, and folded her arms. She made it clear to Legolas she was not open to conversation.

It took ten more shots for Lana to realize that her friend was serious. She put down the bow and waved at Legolas, to say that she was going to return. Riley stood and led Lana away, and eventually, the two were lost in some area that was a little overgrown with plants, especially over the paths.

Lana then proceeded to talk a little about her day, about her new friendship with Legolas that was coming along nicely.

Riley began to interrupt, her question bubbling over. "I've been wondering, Lana. Is this the book or movie version?"

Lana, who had been animatedly talking about her experience almost hitting the targets had stopped to think.

"Hmm, Dunno." She responded, and she actually began to turn around; they were quiet lost. Well, not entirely, it would just take a while to find out a way back.

"Doesn't that bother you?" Riley asked, trying to get her friend's attention.

"Should it?" Lana questioned half hazard, while she kicked some brush aside to walk.

"Well if you plan to do things, not that I'd let you do anything drastic, wouldn't you need to know?"

"Well, probably _per se_, but everything's flowing as it should." Truthfully, Lana had been little bothered by this, and it had only come up until now. She figured it was Riley's little acquaintance with the Lord of the Rings that made her question it. Even though Lana was an avid fan, she had been so star struck by this whole ordeal, and the fact that it wasn't a dream, every character she'd seen or read about was more or less here. But she was beginning to become worried against any want of being so.

She'd started out in the story alongside Boromir, so there wasn't a chance to see the other parts, like the hobbits' journey. And the only time she saw Glorfindel, a key character, was at the Council of Elrond, but even then, no tale of him and his heroics retrieving Frodo. In fact, one of her maids had told her that it was Arwen who went to save him.

"But the times are different between them."

"Well, I mean, if things go a little wrong, then I know how to get them back to normal." Lana assured mostly to herself, but even then, neither of the girls was convinced. Lana scratched her head nervously.

"I just mean that things aren't timely, in the movie there are huge gaps, and I distinctly remember the fellowship leaving like right after the council. And here we are not leaving yet."

"Gives us time to train." Lana shrugged.

"But there are scenes in the movie here. And not to mention the characters are almost dead ringers for the actors." Riley looked onto her friend's downturned face as the girl contemplated this information.

"We'll give it a week. If not, then we probably won't get going until December twenty fifth."

"December?" Riley practically shouted.

"Well, Lord Elrond by now should have sent some of his elves ahead to scout the journey."

"That's a long time, man. I don't know if I want to be here that long."

"Hey, hey, you signed up to come after me." Lana defended.

"I did." She resigned. She wanted to argue, but couldn't and wouldn't reveal anything about _her own _battle. "I suppose two months isn't so bad. But you and I need to do some quality training."

"I was. That's what we were doing yesterday and that's what you picked me up from earlier."

"No, no. If we're preparing we need to bulk up. A little muscle at least. Boromir dies, and he's not just twice your size, but my size too, and I'm the tall one."

"I hate weight training." Lana whined with a frown. She also internally screamed. Her time with Boromir would have to last in the coming months. "Fine. But I'm putting you through cardio hell."

"I'm looking forward to it," Riley snapped. "You don't happen to have work out clothes, do you?" She asked. "I only have a sports bra and leggings."

"Just wear that, the fellowship will have a hoot."

"Don't say hoot." She cried. "That's just a stupid word. But I'm serious. How are we going to function without normal clothes."

"You _are_ wearing normal clothes. Oh, come on, Riley, blend in a little." Riley was unamused, "Okay, I'm sure we can ask like the seamstress for clothes. But other than that, you said so yourself, we need to stick to the plot. So follow your own rules and wear awesome Middle Earth elf clothing."

Riley realized something that would be about in the coming month, and was suddenly not so preoccupied by the clothing or long wait before the journey. She panicked, how could she avoid that big one?

* * *

**Please review guys again. Could be quick or lengthy, I care about all you reviewers! :)**

**and whoa whoa whoa, Elrohir, wtf? omg rite guyz? will be explained later. in fact, may be changed later, depending on if i like it or not, i was kind of iffy on the whole thhhhhhinnnngg :p**

xoxomuah muah

**-Sage94**


	9. Chapter 9 Way Late

**Hi guys! enjoy the following chapter and again, please review. i hope you all had a wonderful holiday season, christmas, whatever you celebrate, break, etc. and had a happy new year, so please read on.**

**So like i honest to gorsh have an excuse for being late. A few people i deeply care about passed away this holiday, and i've just been you know dealing with that, but writing really makes me happy, so i want to get back to that. I would hate to turn to anything else to vent, like bad things or whatever. anyways, if anything sounds super depressing let me know or something cause i'm not sure i can't tell right now, i just wanted to put this chapter out there.**

* * *

Chapter 9: Way Late

Less than a week later, Elrond announced to the company that they would travel when his scouts returned with news of the road ahead of them. It was easier for Lana to act surprised since she had known for a while most events that have happened off by heart, or damn near close to the truth. He had announced it would take them quite some time to return so it would be wise to relax and not make too much haste before they would be off.

Seeing this as a chance to cue real training, Lana did not see this as a chance to relax.

Lana had prepared for the first day of training a stone tablet with a mischievously procured piece of parchment from the elves and ink well and quill. They had asked for a secure place to train outside the eyes of the others and had managed a small clearing, surprisingly nice and flat for this mountainous area. It was large enough space, roughly the size of a decent school gymnasium by the girls' reckoning, but tree-version.

"Warm up jog first." Lana said, checking a box she had drawn from the top of a whole list.

Riley started, but then turned while she was running to look at her friend. "Are you coming?"

"No, I'm your trainer today."

"But, then how are you supposed to get fit?" She asked, already half way around the pitch-like area.

"I'll go tomorrow." Lana said, waving her off.

"Who let you decide who went first?" She asked indignantly.

"Your poor attitude did. Now come on don't waste your breath, you're gonna need it later for the hell I'm going to put you through."

"Sassy," Riley muttered and continued her jog.

* * *

"Two more push ups then we're onto your last set of sit ups which is coincidentally your last set of the day." Lana said brightly, and two more push ups, she checked off the second last box.

Riley was sweating profusely from almost everywhere. She was glad they were alone, because she had to take off the tunic she was wearing even though it was cool weather. She flipped onto her back and struggled through her last few exercises.

Finally, she fell back and shut her eyes. "Slave driver." She muttered.

"Hey, at least you'll be jacked and hot."

"Arwen's not jacked." She muttered again.

"She's an elf; they're perfect. Try beating her in a footrace, she'd slam you, _and_ she'd be wearing a dress."

"Ya, but—" She just calmed herself and took a deep breath. "Thanks. I could be a shlub for the journey but thanks to you I guess I wont have to… Are you doing the same workout?"

"Of course."

"Well then we'll see how perky you are when it's you on the end of never ending 'keep it up, drive those knees high, and don't slack' comments."

"You said they were encouraging." Lana defended.

"Yeah, if you're a gym rat. Some of those things hurt my feelings."

"Enough, you need a cool down jog." She said.

Riley was too lethargic and sore to swipe at her, so she had to comply or face worse cramping later.

Later, they returned to their lodgings, and surprisingly ran into the four little hobbits.

"Oh, hello Lana." Merry said, bowing politely. "And you too, Riley. Can I ask what the devil you two have been up to today? We went looking for some tea time companions."

Riley was startled they included her, since she'd for the most part stood back, but was warmed a little by it.

"Goodness, Riley, what happened to you?" Pippin asked, finally taking in her appearance. Her hair was dishevelled beyond control, the only that would be able to right it was a good washing, and she was still sweating because she had to put on all the covering clothing again.

"Lana happened."

"We're taking some precautionary measures, a bit of training." Lana said, and with that Sam gave Riley a terrified look. "But don't worry, its all pretty mild. She's just lazy, is all."

Riley was too tired to argue, and just nodded along.

Lana dropped her off at her room, to make sure she didn't collapse mostly and followed her into her room.

"So has anyone caught your eye yet?" Lana gushed.

"I don't think now's the best time. I'm a mess and I don't think anyone would want to date someone who would rather sleep than move." Riley said, falling face-first onto her bed.

"C'mon, I'm sure we can get old Leggy to warm up to you." She said, patting her friend.

"Leggy?" Riley asked all muffled.

"Legolas. It's a funny fandom nick—" Lana looked at Riley who had lifted her head to give a incredulous look, "nevermind."

"Sometimes I think the less I know the better." A knock rang at the door. "What now? Don't people know I need my beauty sleep?" She said sarcastically.

"All the sleep you can get apparently. Here, let me get it, lazy ass." Lana said, laughing her way to the door. "Hello?" She asked as she opened it.

"Good morning, miss Lana. I have a message for Riley, she is to meet with Lord Elrond before the hour is through."

"How much time does that give me?" Riley shouted, though only Lana could recognize what was being said muffled.

"Like just fifteen minutes to look beautiful." Lana remarked.

"Who's at the door?" Riley called.

_Well if you got off your ass…_Lana thought. "It's Gilraen."

"Oh, hey!" She said, glad for a familiar face.

Gilraen bowed her head courteously; she was still assigned to take some care after the young human, though more liberties had been given to them, so she only had to check up on her, like making sure she had clothing and cleanliness at her disposal.

And she had been wondering why the girl insisted on such an aggressive greeting like 'Hey.' It always set Gilraen on edge when she said such odd things.

"Shall I draw a bath for you when you return?" She asked warmly.

"That is no question," Lana said for her friend.

"Yes, please." Riley emphasized. And again wished she could move to swipe at Lana.

* * *

Riley nervously walked out onto the balcony where Lord Elrond stood, facing outwards.

"You rang—called." She quickly corrected.

"Yes, how has your stay been these past few days?"

"G-Good." She looked at him nervously. Had he come to his senses like his son, to think that this was all too crazy for their world?

"I am glad you have chosen to become more of use for the journey," He said. But he chose not to mention again how he had said before that muscle and training would be of little use in some areas of the venture, and this point was emphasized especially since hobbits were going.

Riley nodded but was waiting for the real question.

"I notice," The elf Lord started, "that you did not fully answer my first question. I was told my son gave you an unwanted visit. He has been punished in my way, however if there is something you so choose to direct him to do within reason, it can be done."

She was taken aback, expecting something more. Riley cleared her throat. "Well a simple apology for starters. And…" She leaned up into his ear to continue, even though they were alone.

She did not think the man could smile, but the small of the corner of his mouth tugged up. He soon dismissed her to go back to her doings.

"That's all?" She wanted to confirm.

"Yes." He had already turned away, making her wish she saw his expression once more.

Riley exited the room and giggled, for once the whole time she was here. By some high and mighty haute elf law she thought Elrond would have never agreed to it, and it had just been spur of the moment. She had even been scared for a moment that it could be too mean, or she could likely get a fist in the face by Elrohir, but she shovelled that aside and trusted nothing bad could really happen to her, she was supposed to go with the ring.

She returned to her room and almost fell to the bed but Riley turned to the doorway she had just came through just in time to see Gilraen and her crossed arms. The elf cleared her throat sternly and beckoned her out of the room. "Right," the girl muttered.

She was taken down the hall to a large bathroom, with one large tub that sort of reminded her of a Jacuzzi but no cool jets.

"Would you like me to help you?" Gilraen asked, though Riley thought the elf might not want to.

"No it's ok, just, um, tell me where everything is."

After a brief explanation, Gilraen left respectfully and Riley practically collapsed, after having to appear well and able for the past twenty minutes. Her muscles were shaking and wobbly like jelly, but she managed to pry her sweaty clothing off and lower herself into the tub.

She noticed the water or bubbles were perfumed as she eased in. Even though the gesture was nice, she crunched her nose, wishing for a fresh smelling shampoo and body wash. Her chest panged, as it was another reminder she wasn't home, and wouldn't be for a long time. She relaxed nonetheless and let the heat of the water do its work.

Twenty minutes later, she felt that the water hadn't even cooled and also noticed the large brass tap on the other side of the tub. She hadn't noticed, or even bothered to care before but maybe they had some plumbing. The tub wasn't standalone, so she suspected maybe there was a fire underneath to heat the tub.

Over a few days ago, she had been given her first bath, and one that was semi-public, where there were a few other elves cleaning, but just the maids as she had stayed in their quarters for a while. It didn't have the grandiose of this room, whereon she was alone, and it was private.

The door opened and Riley looked up, scared and a little annoyed, she looked over her shoulder and it was only Gilraen who had walked through.

"Would you like help?"

"No, I'm fine, I'm going to stay in a little longer. Thanks." She said, consciously pulling bubbles toward herself, just in case. The elf left respectfully, and Riley relaxed a little longer, happy to revel in a little bit of luxury before she knew that the journey would arrive. _I'll be lucky if I get a bath until that scene after Lothlorien_.

Feeling that her fingers had effectively pruned, she drained the tub and wrapped herself in the cloth. It was sort of like a towel. She contemplated the scented oils on the small shelf, and gave in to that small voice telling her to woman up once in a while. It vaguely sounded like Lana.

Once fully dried, except for her hair, she wondered about getting back to her room. Her smelly clothes were still on the floor, but she couldn't just put them on. Casually, she wandered to the door, just to check to see if the coast was clear. She yelped and slammed the door.

Outside stood Elrohir, tall and facing outwards, waiting for the despicable girl to finish inside. He'd suddenly heard the door open, but shut just as quickly. He shook his head and waited a little longer.

She finally exited, but with indignation and smelly clothes on.

"I thought she said you'd be clean."

"I—" Riley took a deep breath, and began walking to her room. "You weren't supposed to be here _now_."

"Scared you, did I?" He asked.

Riley refused to turn around to answer him, and resolved to remain quiet for now. Though she reminded herself that should be cheery after all; he was there and would be there as long as she and Elrond saw fit.

* * *

Three gruelling weeks later, and she was back to thoughts she'd had at first. She'd originally attributed the lack of _it _to stress from being there, maybe she wasn't eating the same as she was before, or that she'd lost a bit of weight, but she wasn't sure now. She had counted the days, ten, where something should have happened.

She finished a workout circuit with relatively more ease, and without the need for Lara to constantly be at her side shouting. This whole expanse of time they hadn't let up on training physically and with weapons, much to the chagrin of Riley, though admittedly they had gotten exponentially better at the exercises.

She walked over to the stone bench that held a water jug and two cups.

Even though they had not been together before the crossing over in this world, she knew her friend was always two weeks sooner than her, it had just always happened like that.

"Have you had your period yet?" Riley asked casually.

"Thank god no." Lana said, finally looking up from her tablet.

"What are you drawing?" She asked.

"My badass outfit for the journey. I'm thinking iconic, yet sexual."

Riley leaned over her shoulder and nodded along. "I'm thinking you'll freeze your ass off in the mountains if you don't design something that covers your midriff."

"Fine. But I want to see yours so I can compare." The blonde pouted.

"I don't have one yet—nevermind. I was serious about my first question. I'm a week late, and I'm pretty regular."

Lana began her protest, and brought up her opinion, which so happened to be the same conclusions that Riley had thought of earlier too.

"True, but isn't it weird we both skipped?" Riley said.

"Well, did you sleep with anyone?" Lana asked. Her friend's cheeks heated up. "Cheer up, girl, I say good luck to anyone who wants to try with you."

"That's not what I meant either." Her heated cheeks turned hotter, except with frustration. "This is wrong though, I just have a bad feeling about this."

"Okay, I see what you mean. Like I've been saying all along though: you need to calm down. Give it a month, it could be nerves. But for now I think its great. Who wants _that_ in the way, right?"

Riley looked into Lana's sincere eyes, and for the moment, she let it go albeit reluctantly.

"What are you two plotting this time?" the Lord Elrohir asked. He had just walked into their clearing. He had left earlier out of boredom, and obviously returned to resume his duty.

"Your demise, as always," Riley retorted lowly, but loud enough so that she knew he could hear.

He sniffed, and replaced his haughty demeanour around him. "I was told that you two have a fitting with the maids for travelling clothes and armour."

Elrohir and Riley watched as Lana did a little dance and spin out of happiness. "Woo, you better get your outfits planned, Riwey, before I plan them for you!" Lana went off, running towards the houses of Elrond, even before she knew where she was supposed to go.

Riley towelled off, and grinned.

"Riwey?" Elrohir sneered.

"You are not allowed to use that name." She warned. He didn't answer, and that frightened her a little. He tended to do that—stay silent—and that made her think that he was the plotter, not her.

* * *

Before she knew it she stood in front of a tall mirror, looking at the impressive outfit the elves had adorned her in. It had not yet been a week and intricate silver stitching was across the chest of her thick tunic. She knew they were quick workers, those ladies, but she suspected they had started earlier on when they knew of her departure, for they seemed relieved when she picked the blue colour as the fabric. Gilraen had even commissioned another sports bra for her, but it was leather. Riley smiled in appreciation for that, and assured them it would be packed, but secretly hoped that the constricting concoction would never be used, lest her beloved spandex bra break.

She was given leggings, lighter and another pair that was thick and warm, both dark, though one was dark brown, the other almost a gray.

She and Lana were asked to follow Elrohir to the smiths, who had just finished the detailing of their armour. It couldn't really be called the full shebang suit of armour that Riley pictured, but it was thick padding, that could be tied to their shins, shoulders and upper arms. Brown leather was used to tie them down and several more protective pieces were strapped down and settled in on them.

"Wait until the boys see us," Lana giggled.

Riley nodded, but was concerned. She knew that by 'boys' Lana meant Boromir, and it did not settle her stomach. Over the weeks, Lana had not relented her contact and friendship with Boromir, and he certainly had not discouraged it. Whether that man sought something more she did not know, she at least hoped that he would have the common decency to die before anything serious could happen between them. Riley was not so stupid to let them be together alone, in fact she tried her best to keep Lana occupied by her, and her ramblings and questions about Middle Earth, but they always seemed to unconsciously find a way to meet up unexpectedly. Of course, Riley couldn't tell anyone her concerns. They'd think she was a whack job, paranoid, or jealous. She could just picture it: being teased that the captain was not paying her any mind.

That was not true though. He had, but only to inquire more about them, their home life, and Lana mostly. Riley amazed herself at her ability to deflect invasive questions, and in turn ask questions about Boromir, to which he turned to his own stories of glory and battles. She had also gotten quite good at pretending to be interested in them. She was already an excellent listener, but after all the attention she had to pay to training and skill building, she had little room or patience for much else. And she was unassuming in nature, usually willing to give an ear to all.

At last, Elrohir gave orders for a pair of servants to prepare a small pack for them to be readied for the departure, which would only be a short while longer. Elrohir left to give them a bit of privacy, even though they were not getting fully undressed.

"Christmas, you say?" Riley whispered to Lana, referring to the date of departure.

"Yes, yes," She waved, still adjusting the straps, especially tightening the one around her waist.

"Remember you have to move when you're fighting." Riley mused, going back to a normal tone.

"I will be able to, remember we still have a few more weeks of training. And don't think I'm letting you eat carbs." It was an empty threat; they both knew they wouldn't get in the way of each other's eating habits when everything the elves served was meant to be extremely healthy.

"Fine, don't come crying to me when you collapse from having a hard time breathing."

"Oh shut it, I want to be in a good mood for tonight."

"What's tonight?" Riley asked.

Lana's eyes bugged accusingly and she shushed her, and told her to wait until they were free from the final fittings.

"It's Merry's birthday, silly." Lana said, removing her last piece of armour, and with that they left the blacksmith's.

She sighed. "Who's throwing it?"

"Well, it's unofficial, since no one's really supposed to know, but Pippin is. Elves have too many birthdays anyways, what use would they have for a whole party?"

"Makes sense…" Riley allowed.

"Anyways, we're invited, but please be cool, don't tell the elves."

"What about Legolas?"

"He's cool, he's not from here. Plus I don't think he drinks until the second movie."

"I highly doubt the elves will find anything wrong with this. It's just a party, right?"

"Well they might; we're depleting the wine stores from the sounds of it."

"All of it?" Riley feared.

"Well what I've been trying to say is that they won't be pleased but my point is they don't need all their alcohol, they're as square as they come."

"If you do anything stupid, I'll let them kick you off the fellowship."

"Don't tell _me_ that, I'm more worried about Merry and Pip." Lana defended.

"I don't think you have to worry about anything, I probably won't go." Riley said flippantly.

All of a sudden, Lana seemed worried, "Well why not?"

Riley raised her eyebrows; _it took ya this long to let me know about the damned thing. _"Having Elrohir as your manservant sometimes has its downfalls."

Seemingly appearing out of nowhere, said elf appeared, but to the girl's relief, unaware of the conversation. "_Not_ a manservant, thank you very much, _Riwey_."

Actually, Riley was glad to have decided to not go, for this elf she could not picture holding a glass of anything other than water. To her, he made her feel like a dirty ape by comparison to his cleanliness and hauteur qualities. And that was unintentionally. Every other way she felt inferior anyways. In response she felt the need to strangle him pulsate through her once in a while.

"_Right,_ Jeeves." Lana teased, and went off in a hurry to complete her scheming with Pippin.

"What's a jeeves?" He asked, surprising Riley with a genuine curiosity.

She snorted and waved him off, letting him trail behind her while she went back to her business of relaxing.

* * *

**please review! short, long, sensical, non-sensical, vertical, etc...**


	10. Chapter 10 Pipe Weed

**Hi guys, i'm back! thanks to all who reviewed my last few chapters. And i have to agree with the general consensus that this story was not what they were expecting. It wasn't what i was expecting either in terms of execution and response. And portrayal is going to be as true as i can make it, granted this is fiction and supernatural. None of that noble indian shit you see in the movies. i mean, prayer and spirituality are a big part of the way most of us live, but like we're not all the same; nations and tribes will have their own ways, you know. as for response, i'm pretty glad you were surprised, because well, i totally agree aswell that everything about oc's in middle earth is overdone. this is just my take, and a little bit of mucking around/fun. hope you all give it more of a shot!**

Chapter 10: Pipe Weed

Instead of joining the party, Riley spent the night at an open table with some of Elrohir's kin paying cards. In fact they had surprised her by having a deck of cards. They were pretty similar to the ones in her world and she was pleased that Tolkien, Jackson or Lana had imagined the people here with fun. Not that she had expected them to be boring but she had this preconceived notion that the Middle Age flare this world had would make this place boring.

She ended up playing a crushing game of poker. She admitted to not being very good at having a poker face but she was overall impressed because she had no idea they gambled. Granted not with money but with duties. "You will have to patrol the northern borders for a year," was a bet in place, and Riley was taken aback by the length of time of some of these wagers since there were longer ones, but remembered they were immortal.

She then remembered that somewhere before the end of the series, all the elves were going to leave. And it wasn't a secret, she didn't think, since in the movies they had said Middle Earth was turning into the age of men. So were these ones planning on staying to see the end too, like Arwen? And become mortal?

She waved it off, not intent on dwelling on their issues yet. All in all, though, she was technically required to do thirty years of service around the place because of all the hands she lost. Fortunately she was reassured by some of them that they were not as mean as Elrohir could be and would not make her do this service.

Later on she was playing a bit of solitaire and the others were chatting at another table when all of a sudden they heard some clashing. Immediately she winced. She had a terribly correct feeling that that was Merry's party. She just hoped that Lana wasn't the one making the ruckus.

"Those sounds have been going on all night, should we finally go and see?" One elf said. Riley admitted to having given up on memorizing names, they all sounded pretty much the same to her. But she was surprised yet again at the abilities of the elves, and internally cursed both them and the party.

They all decided to investigate, and Riley followed them with the pretence of being concerned as well, but was truly looking to see if Lana could prove her right. She cursed to herself because she specifically chose a spot to sit that was far away from the party's general area but was obviously foiled. She had so looked forward to a quiet evening.

When they arrived, it was in a room, that had an open pavilion when you walked through the door, and it reminded Riley of a deck, just in stone. It led to a small, secluded lawn like area, where there was one table. Riley had walked in after the elves, and struggled to look around them. She spotted Lana, but only because she had been looking solely for her. She was a little out of the way, refilling her glass. Riley side glanced the elves and cautiously beckoned her over as Elrohir made his way closer to the rest of the party. It was the fellowship, but the only people entertaining were the hobbits, though a drink loosened all of them up. Except for Legolas, Riley noted. They joined together, but in a sort of curiosity and authority-stricken way. It was after all a surprise for them to see all the ale and wine that the hobbits had managed to procure, nevermind the food strewn across.

As Pippin began to explain their actions quite craftily, Riley quietly pulled Lana out the room, and smacked her hard on the arm. Lana giggled, and allowed her friend to lead them away.

"Are we waiting for them to leave then go back in?" She asked, bewildered.

Riley wished there was water near by so that she could splash it in her face. She had seen this girl blazing drunk before though and was glad that she wasn't even close to being at that level.

"I think it's better if you go to bed."

"You-you," Lana hiccoughed, and was pointing at her friend accusingly. Riley was prepared for her drunken ramblings but was surprised when she said, "you know, you're always right about these things." Riley sighed and walked her away. "Take me home, mama." Lana giggled some more, as if she were hilarious.

The following day, Aragorn went walking and found his destination and set himself astride Lord Elrond, intent on answers. Elrond was expecting this, however expected something a tad sooner in the month. He himself had been planning on a small meeting with the Riley to discuss her methods further, but was busied with many tedious matters in his realm.

"Did my original response finally reach its end? I confess to be surprised you remained satisfied thus far."

"Silent, not satisfied, my Lord."

Lord Elrond nodded, and continued on his walk. It was one of the few moments he had to himself. Of course it was serene in his houses by appearance, but in his mind Elrond had a constant alertness and needed these moments of peace to remain sane.

"About the nine. They are not among us because?" He asked, about the girls.

"Aragorn, the Valar work in mysterious ways, however you must understand that it is not solely the Valar at work with us." In his small explanation, there was a warning. Elrond would go no further, would not be forced to budge and Aragorn had better change the topic.

"But they are so young. I cannot believe that they may possess power anywhere near that of the wizards."

_Nor can I_, Elrond thought. "They have consulted me, and we have arranged so that they will be of little a hindrance as possible."

"And for what reason did they not stand with us during the council?" He asked.

Elrond paused a tad too long, to truly think of an answer, "This power I spoke of them having… I do not want them to be discovered."

"What do you mean?"

"The Istari appointed by the Valar are not associated with their people. Their powers could be corrupted in the wrong hands." Elrond instinctually felt though that only Riley was knowledgeable of her abilities, if only scarcely. If Lana had any at all, she was clueless. "You remember the story of how the Istari came to be in a human form?"

"If I recall correctly, a reminder of whom they must ally with."

"But the Istari have human faults. Saruman has been swayed, and he has extensive knowledge as the chief of his kin. These women are young and if these powers were exploited in the dark lord's possession, then even I do not know the consequences."

For Aragorn this only raised more questions, "And so?"

"And so we must protect them. No one must know of them as being apart of the fellowship to the best of our power." He said.

Elrond's peace was ruined, but he did not give this credit to Aragorn though, as he would have had to face these thoughts sooner or later. Riley had reassured him earlier that she would be the one to do the protecting but by this explanation he knew it couldn't be so simple, and he saw this now. If Riley, not just Lana, were to fall from what grace he knew she had, she could be ruined, her mission would be ruined and in effect _all_ would if what Riley thought what would happen were to come to pass. "As you declared you would for Frodo, you cannot let them out of your sight."

"But I did not know—"

"It is imperative that you safeguard them as well, they are apart of the company." _But not the Nine_, they both knew.

Aragorn held off his other suspicions vocally, but was now more vigilant. _Maybe they must have a truer purpose than the One Ring,_ Isildur's heir thought. And he was right, but for the moment did not have a grasp on the scale of their purpose.

* * *

Unable to continue the rest of his day normally after Aragorn caused unrest and questions of his own, Lord Elrond summoned Riley from her business.

She entered the room, and after all this time spent around him, she still felt uneasy in his presence.

"Your training has given great results, Lana tells me," He said amusedly.

Riley was well aware that Lana was telling anyone who would listen how "jacked" they were. "It makes sword fighting a little easier," She admitted. That was a small lie, only for the benefit of Elrond's nerves; she was still fumbling with the blade.

The only other person in Imladris not too keen on small talk was Gandalf, and so she was waiting for Elrond to begin his inquest. She was just curious as to what it was this time. She nervously tugged at the skirt of her dress. Even though she was uncomfortable in them at home, she was calmed by the fact that every woman here did it, and in fact felt more out of place when she chose to wear her regular clothes.

"I am interested in finding out what your methods will be."

"Sorry, methods for what?" She panicked. Would he nitpick on her sword training? Did someone tell him how little she was progressing in that area?

"The eradication of the malignant spirit." He emphasized malignant.

Truly caught off guard, she opened her mouth and closed it a number of times before beginning, "Well, as you know the Spirit comes from my peoples' beliefs, not Lana's, so I have a few, erm, ways I guess to help the situation."

Elrond's brow knit concernedly.

She wasn't sure at all. She could use the medicines she used in traditional ceremonies, but was altogether too sceptical that they wouldn't have any effect on the evil spirit. "Tobacco?"

Elrond remained polite, but his expression read confused.

"You know, the tobacco plant?" She asked. He shook his head. "Well, how about I compile a list first. And then you can tell me if you have it here or not."

"I bid haste, in the case that you may not have access to anything before the fellowship departs."

"Okay, well maybe I'll be back by the end of the week."

Riley went back to her room, confused about asking anyone for help. Well, someone for help. Lana would be suspicious, but she would know what things are.

Eventually she relented, even if it meant lying to her again by claiming to have other motives than the Wendigo. She got up from her soft bed and left to go look for Lana.

On impulse she checked the kitchens, and there she was eating a sandwich next to Sam. Riley wanted to say how glad she was that at least they were sober, but she sensed from Lana's earlier grumbling attitude in the morning that she wouldn't be speaking to her until she calmed down.

"Good afternoon," She settled on.

"Afternoon miss Riley," He said.

"What's that you're eating?" She asked, glancing over at Lana.

"A ham and mustard sandwich."

"I can make you one, if you want." Lana offered.

"That's great," she said, and thought about the best way to bring it up.

Merry, Pippin and Frodo walked in, Merry having a pipe in his hands. She'd never really seen him with one, other than last night, just shrugging it off. Of course, she hadn't ever hung around him to the extent as Lana did; Lana loved the hobbits. But she suddenly wondered about the stuff he was smoking. It was familiar, she had always thought pipe weed was actual marijuana. _No, it can't be tobacco…_ she thought.

But the smell of the smoke was similar. A bit sweeter, but she knew it had to be. But why were they high in the movies?

_Maybe it's a crossbreed,_ she snorted.

Lana sighed when she realized she would have to prepare a few more of her sandwiches, but was content to see everyone happy and eating when she was finished. Seeing her chance while the hobbits were busy smoking or eating, Riley pulled Lana to the side a bit and made her inquiries.

"Hey girl, thanks for lunch."

"No problem. I'm just worried about staying here too long. They'll make me prepare more." She said nervously.

"Right, right. Anyways, about Merry's pipe… is that…?"

"Well, I'm not really sure its marijuana." Lana said, completing her thoughts.

"Is it tobacco?"

"D'you know what? I read a bit about it because it was bothering me too, but some kinds of tobacco could trip you out. But I think it is. Why? Did you want to try some?" She elbowed the native.

"Not if I get a blazing high as those two." Riley muttered.

Lana started to defend, "Well, actually they don't get bla—"

"I'm kidding, Lana."

"Oh, right." She said, calming down.

Riley silently cursed. She'd have to ask the hobbits herself on where to get the pipe weed, if that's what she planned on using. Lana would get weirded out if she had grown a sudden interest in drugs. She could of course just tell her that she planned on using them for her prayers and not mention it as work against the Wendigo, but Lana would question a little about why she needed to pray. She needed her methods to be seamlessly stealthy. Not her forte when she tried unfortunately, but when she _wanted_ to be noticed she had trouble finding the limelight. It usually ended badly.

"Where do they grow that stuff anyways?" She questioned as ingenuous as possible.

"I think just in the shire, but probably elsewhere." Lana supplied.

"Right," _you knew that, stupid,_ she berated herself. _South farthing weed, or something. _

One time her father tried to grow tobacco for ceremonies in their backyard, but the leaves wouldn't grow past the size of her palms. She at least gave credit to her father for trying, even if he wasn't the best gardener. But hopefully if she got her hands on some, it would be large.

As they were still in the kitchen she decided to do some snooping around the spice rack. However the kind of herb she was looking for only came in the flat green variety of sage. She sighed, realizing that she would have to do some looking around outside.

"I'm going for a walk," She said to the group. As she had predicted, they were immersed in a conversation, and paid attention only to wish her well on her way before resuming. "Work out later?" She asked Lana.

She nodded, and waved her off amiably, and Riley was allowed to slip away.

Slightly recalling she would need to carry this in something, she approached the ladies she met on her very first day.

"Good day," Gilraen answered the door, and invited her in. "What brings you down here?"

"Well, you guys already made me great clothing, but can I ask for another thing?"

"Is it big or small?" Gilraen queried, before she accepted.

With her forefingers and thumbs she made about a 6-inch square. "That small. I was thinking a leather pouch, you know, for small things I might need."

"Sure, Riley, we might be able to scrounge something. Should it rest at the hip from the opposite shoulder?"

Not realizing the details the seamstresses might need, Riley gave into revealing Gilraen more elements she wanted, like measurements, pockets and colour, and then set off on her merry way.

She had successfully set off alone, everyone finally used to her presence around the dwellings, or at least they were able to be so familiar without blatant staring.

Riley stopped short of heading in her original destination, but remembered she would need to have at least a little bit of pipe weed for her doings. It was arduous, but she spotted Aragorn, incidentally smoking from his pipe that very moment.

She decided on her approach. _Flirty? No, that could creep him out. Bro-talk? He might be suspicious of the sudden 'home-boi' treatment. Direct? He might be suspicious also. Ah heck, he's gonna wonder anyways why I'm bumming for weed when I don't smoke, _she thought.

"Aragorn," she asked finally.

"Riley, good day is it not." He was leaning over a stone banister, appearing reasonably content, and in fine clothes.

"Yes, yes, beautiful. Um, is there any chance I could borrow some pipe-weed from you?"

"I did not think you partook in that sort of activity." He commented, though was smiling. "And I'm sure borrow is not the proper word." He winked.

It took her a moment to realize that it was only her sick generation that linked winks to sex, when some people only used it as a tool to convey a joke. She cleared her throat, wishing that she did not just picture Aragorn being sexual at all. "Yes, well, it's not for me, it's that old Pippin. You know those hobbits. Worse than chimneys, but I thought I'd do him a favour and find some for him. Seems to have misplaced his supply." She thought of quickly, and silently prayed he would be generous.

"Of course I did not believe for a moment you would have vices like my own." He amended. "There you are, and send that boy my regards, he is in _great_ debt."

Riley granted him a rushed laugh, and held her hand out as he handed her a small pouch full of it. She headed back to her next objective, leaving an amused yet bewildered Aragorn behind.

Legolas, happened to pass by, but was unfortunate enough in his opinion to have missed the conversation between Riley and Aragorn.

"Good day, Aragorn. What were you two talking about, if I may?"

"She was just asking for some pipe weed for Pippin, I expect she's off to see him again now." He laughed.

Legolas pursed his lips, "I was just passing by the other direction, as you may have noticed. Pippin is in the kitchens with Lana."

Aragorn shrugged, not as concerned as Legolas, as perhaps she meant to give it to the hobbit later.

* * *

The girl, Riley, had the opportunity while she was staying in Rivendell to explore around, and there was nothing of the sort that she was looking for. There were several trails she followed that led into the mountainside, but not through the entrance of the bridges, through the other side of the keep. They were thankfully well worn, and she was able to move without her dress snagging on every low brush or branch.

She realized she had gotten to a point where nothing was recognizable, but she was getting lower on the mountain, the trees were getting heavier. There was a small dip into a valley between the mountains surrounding Rivendell, so she figured she was nearing that area. There was bound to be more of what she was looking for there.

Now she was no possessor of supernatural senses by her reckoning, but she could at least feel when there was another presence.

She pursed her lips, expecting Lana to have followed her on an adventure, and was yet again startled by the stunning but stern Elrohir.

"Whoa, at least warn me when you're around." She complained. He was a bit far back, but she could spot him a dozen or two feet up the beaten path.

She suddenly realized—as per custom in front of every other elf—how grubby she must have looked, and struggled to quickly set herself in order. Hair smoothed back, sweat wiped away from her face, twigs brushed away, all as best as she could.

"You know," he commented while approaching, "I don't think lady Gilraen would approve of the mistreatment of her garments."

"She told me they were hand-me-downs."

"Regardless, look at the state of you. Just ghastly."

Riley paused her retort to realize that that wasn't exactly unkind in tone. Almost only amused.

"Right. Thank you." She continued on down the path.

"Are we not going to break now, you've gone so far without."

"Is that a concern?" She mused, but trekked downwards.

"Hardly, I'm just barely used to mortals being able to withstand arduously unworthy of their while tasks. I take it then that you're in search of something important."

Riley walked to an outstanding rock looked back up the mountain from their point. "Oh," She muttered. They were quite a ways away. She resumed her path, "Well since you're obviously here to stay, I've cursed us both by asking you to follow me around, I don't suppose you could help me out."

She looked back and he nodded. "Okay, I'm looking for the sage plant."

"We _have_ herbs up in the kitchen."

"Yes, well, a specific type. It's white, maybe knee height. It's quite hardy, and would be growing this time of year." _Even though it's so damn nice here anyways._

"Not for cooking?" He asked, perplexed. "Then bath oils, or incense?"

He was rather close to the money, so she agreed, "Incense."

He must have thought her some nut, because he rolled his eyes at her, but she paid him no mind.

"Describe the leaves." He said, this time his voice followed her more closely.

"Um, they're kind of fuzzy, a pale green and whitish colour. They're thinner than regular sage, but smell the same I think." She realized she couldn't remember picking any; mostly just seeing it dried and bundled together.

"Well, I think I can help you there, I've seen something like that grow lower. We don't normally pick it."

_So there should be lots,_ she considered.

* * *

The thin stalks of sage grew lightly yet not sparsely surrounding brush and trees, and made Riley pleased that she would not have to scrounge. This was more than she'd hoped. She perhaps looked forward to a mild exercise out of this. She got down on her knees next to a few, and reached for the pouch she had been lent. She suddenly realized that Elrohir was watching her very closely.

"Yeah?" She asked him, suddenly becoming protective of her actions.

"Pardon?" He asked, not budging.

"You may go, I've come for what I've been looking for. Thank you," She stressed.

"You're _most_ welcome, but I'd rather wait to escort you. It is nearing evening, the sun may set in a couple hours." He asserted.

"Well you can wait and escort me around the bend over there. You creep me out when you watch me," She waved him away, and hunched over her small pouch, digging out a leaf, and crumbling it in her left hand.

He huffed, prepared for a rebuttal, but yielded and went away.

As she picked a few stalks, the action sort of made her remember times when she would pick the medicine. Sage grew in abundance on her reserve, but only if you knew where to look. Her grandmother had a knack for the places, taught by her grandmothers, but the consecutive generations had trouble reconnecting with the land. Riley recalled feeling lucky to have her grandparents know traditional things, since most children didn't have a good understanding of the old ways.

Thoughts of her grandmother welled in her eyes, and she finally finished her pile of sage. She tied it temporarily with a dry and bare stalk.

"Miigwech," she muttered. She put down the tobacco and rose quickly.

She savoured the strong and sweet smell of the tobacco from her hand, and replaced it with the bundle of sage in her arm.

She reunited with a disgruntled Elrohir, and they travelled uphill, this time Riley had less enthusiasm. Perhaps it was the intimidating climb.

"What were you doing?" Elrohir asked.

"Picking sage."

"No, no, with your pouch."

"Why are you so creepy?" She asked, and continued on. She looked up the hill and rolled her eyes. This was not only going to be exhausting physically, but to keep an ongoing banter with Elrohir would also add stress.

He dropped it but was angered that she was able to turn that into a fault of his. He decided that while he may not be able to inquire with his father about her, he could at least ask his father's advisor, who happened to be fascinated with knowledge in any area. He decided he would plant the seed of curiosity if it was not there already, and maybe Erestor would find out more about Riley and her odd ways.

"Were you crying?" He finally asked what was bothering him.

* * *

**AAAAAAAAAAAAnd thanks for reading.**

**Little language lesson I guess…The double "ii" is basically "ee" sound phonetically. "aa" is "ah" sounding. "oo" is "oh" sounding. That's generally what I'm talking about when I write the double vowel. Of course, it's gonna be different everywhere ya look about ojibwe writing. Some places, you'll see that they'll write it so that it looks and sounds phonetically "correct" to the English eye. For example Anishnaabe and Anishnawbe sound the exact same, yo.**

**Please leave a review, and I'll update as soon as I can. We're getting there people ;) **

**-sage94**


	11. Chapter 11 War Paint

**Hi guys, so i am back into the groove of college so i'm not sure about frequent updates. i have future chapters and scenes mapped out, it's just finding the time to sit and fill in the gaps, which are sometimes huge. anyways, enjoy this chapter.**

Chapter 11: War paint

"You're so nosy." Riley said, and stifled back the moisture in her eyes.

He didn't talk for a while, and so Riley was able to compose herself. He finally said, "So, were you?"

She sighed exasperatedly; he was very forward. "Yes, okay?"

"May I ask why?" He seemed genuinely concerned which took her by surprise.

"Well, I miss my family."

He started, but stopped, several times, having to think of several things to say, and he found that they all would sound unkind.

She had been thinking about the amount of complications that could arise, and maybe he was beginning to realize her dilemmas as well. She could be gone for quite some time, if their journey went successfully with the ring. And then if it didn't, then that could be a result of her being hurt during her travels. Along those lines, Riley was also thinking that she could also be killed if she got anywhere close to the wars and the hardships they might entail, like hordes of orcs; if she was in over her head (which she admitted she had passed that stage a long time ago); if the Wendigo and Sauron succeeded she would be finished; and if she did succeed after it all, could she go back?

"Fret not," Elrohir assured slowly, "if you take extra care, follow orders and maintain your studies, your journey will be successful. Then you will see them again."

"You are _too_ kind, Elrohir," she said and she rolled her eyes. She couldn't find anyone with _more_ tact than him.

* * *

Elrohir had taken it upon himself to follow through with his plan to figure out and expose more of Riley and Lana's _dark_ secrets, and sought out his father. Obviously, he was denied there, but there was another who couldn't be less or equally as inquisitive as him than Erestor, his father's advisor.

Fortunately for Elrohir, Erestor had enough authority granted to him, and enough interest from his father for the advisor to be able to interview Riley at least, since she would be the one needed to explain her process for defeating the Wendigo. And Erestor was thoroughly excited for the experience.

Elrohir was in the midst of escorting Riley to the library the next day, just having told her of the circumstances she was about to be placed in.

Riley began by chewing Elrohir's ear off, "I was going to have to tell them anyways, you didn't have to make this a big production..."

"There will be no fanfare, I assure you." He said, ushering her through some passages.

"Welcome." Erestor said, the moment they walked in, and halted any open animosity the two bickerers had.

Riley looked inside, and saw about half a dozen elves. They held recording tools, and were set next to a table where she was meant to sit next to the advisor. She abruptly stopped and stamped back on Elrohir's foot.

"Whoa, whoa, what are all these guys doing here?" She said, backing up, but forgot her faithful servant was behind her.

"My lady, they are here to put your information to paper."

"_You_ can't do that? There has to be more people?"

"Unfortunately, yes, I could be the one—"

"I appreciate the interest, but I didn't sign up for all these people to be here."

Everyone in the room seemed taken aback and began protesting.

Seeing no end to their insistence after two minutes of reasoning she sat down, and let the questions commence.

"Elrohir, I am pleased you asked for this opportunity to occur, however your father asked that you not be in attendance." Erestor said. Leaning around in her chair at the order, Riley quirked her brow at the elf at the door, and made a shooing motion.

"Yes, of course," Elrohir went stony, bowed curtly and left, but not before shooting Riley a look.

Her amusement was short lived when she turned back and seven diligent faces were opposite to her ready to listen.

* * *

Lana was glad they ended up having their work out the previous night because tension they'd had over keeping her on a tight chain was now gone even though nothing was said over the matter. Lana was hoping they wouldn't have to argue like they did before they crossed over, in fact Lana would consider herself to be non confrontational if it would come down to another fight, which she would do the best in her power to prevent.

Riley's question before though creeped her out when she asked about the weed. In a way, she felt protective of her, because she was so innocent and didn't want her to get into anything here. Though if you were to ask Riley about who was more protective, she felt like the mother. She wanted to remain innocent in that she never wanted bad things to happen to her, corrupting things. It would be easier for them to keep an eye on each other, yet harder because there were no strict laws against the corrupting things here.

Lana decided to start the day off of training because for the life of her she couldn't find her friend. The elves would never allow any harm to come to them though, so she figured it wouldn't be bad to not be at her side for one day.

* * *

For the fourth time already, Riley had to re-explain the phenomenon that was the Indian. She found it exhausting to explain her history in the other world, and she found it more exhausting attempting to explain herself in a world who had no idea about her people.

Or maybe they did know just not knowledgeable that where she came from they had mistreatment of people down to a science all over the world.

It was also really difficult for her to elaborate on things without including modern day technology, so she had to settle on what happened in the past. She knew quite a bit of her history for her own use, but supposed that now wasn't the perfect time to announce she was no historian.

"But why do they call you Indians?" Erestor asked twice after she shrugged in response the first time.

"Because the first people to arrive were idiots, that's why." She was suddenly starting to like this. There was no one here other than Lana who could protest anything she said or paint her in a bad light. "On their quest to make their way around the world and prove the world wasn't flat, they thought they'd made it around the world and hit India, when they actually hit the new world. That's why they called us Indians."

A round of chuckles made may through everyone.

A few more exchanges were recorded about vague descriptions from what she could recall about the settling, treaties, and wars, and then onto the more recent histories.

"If the treatment was so unfair, then why did people allow it to happen?"

"Because since the moment people set foot on the new world, there had been a severe misunderstanding between them. I don't know I'm not sure. If I could go back and talk people out of things, I would." _But they wouldn't listen anyways_.

"So was it sudden?" Riley assumed he was talking about the "taking over".

"Well in a way. It was like backstabbing, but with all this pretense of being allies. We were by no means perfect people, but we had certain values that prevented us from acting the same ways of the settlers. They were expansionists, and we were… pacifists to an extent."

"You fight today?"

"Well no, that's not how things are settled now. Things are not tangibly good or evil in my world. Its all very here nor there on the surface."

"On the surface?" He asked.

"Well, regular people not on reserves think the problems over. And it's not. The only difference now is that the oppressor can step back and tell us we're hurting ourselves."

Hearing herself say things out loud instead of keeping it to herself as common knowledge made her angry and ancy. Angry at the fact that this was the state of her world and life back home, and ancy because it unnerved her to become so worked up about it, it made her voice tremble when she spoke about it.

They were still conversing and taking more notes in their Sindarin language, while Riley was trying to block them out. She focused on outside and trying to stop her leg from shaking.

"Um, can I go?" She said, breaking their chatter.

They looked at her, then at Erestor. She could tell that they were eager for more, but she couldn't handle much at the moment.

"Are you alright?" Erestor asked.

She was a little irked, she didn't like it when people made questions public so she would have to say it out to everyone, but continued, and "I'm just a little tired I think I'm going to lie down."

Erestor kindly allowed her to leave, slightly concerned, but decided it might be best to let her be if he did not know how she liked to be comforted.

Riley had spent a few hours inside, and she stretched once she left that room, and ventured for her quarters.

* * *

Riley went back to nap as per usual, but her thoughts were racing so much she ended up only tossing around. She tried drawing the curtains closed, she tried removing her socks, but to no avail. Finally she lay back down and tossed a little too much and ended up on the floor.

"Ugh," she exclaimed and extracted herself from the sheets. Riley found herself facing the underside of the bed from the fall. She blinked a couple times and squinted before recognizing her backpack, gathering dust.

She pulled it out and a small smile came to her lips at the memories.

Inside there were several things other than her clothes she had left. There was a dark circle scarf, some dried orange rinds that she didn't want anyone to get suspicious about in case there weren't such thing as oranges, several wrappers from granola bars, a stick of deodorant she had forgotten about, a lip balm (she'd never even knew she packed, it was probably there in the first place), a small pair of ankle socks, her small pocket knife, and her iPhone charger.

Which reminded her: she left the phone in the front pocket and she pulled it out.

She knew it had worked the first time she'd gotten there, but she decided to give it a shot anyways. To her amazement it flickered to the bright white apple, and on.

It was the same as before she'd gotten here. But at only eighty percent she vowed not to use it until she got back. It was a flimsy promise that she was sure she would slip up against since apps were tempting, though she at least affirmed she wouldn't show anyone other than Lana.

She did wonder though. Lana had brought her phone, she was sure since she did not see it in her room.

She tried to send a text to Lana anyways, despite there being no service, and was wishing the great spirit could perform some voodoo magic to allow her service provider access to middle earth.

Riley snorted at the notion, and could picture whoever the Spirit above was shaking his head either at the absurdity or in offence. She smiled as she thought that ideas where there was magic involved in her life would have been previously laughed at, but such was her state of being there she granted herself this one small humorous wish, and maybe if she asked nicer later, the Great Spirit would humor her.

_No more YouTube, no more movies, no more music, no more good food_. "Wah," she whined out loud, and slumped further into the stone floor. She groaned several more times when a clearing throat stopped her short of another.

"What are you doing on the floor?" Lana said, and crouched beside her.

"Seriously, I'm lucky I have you or I would be staying and waiting out the war."

"You could you know," Lana supplied jokingly.

"But then you'd have all the fun without me." _Killing orcs, watching people you might grow to care about get hurt, watching the ring get destroyed, seeing the Eye get punctured_.

"Ok. But seriously, why are you here in your room? It's not even suppertime yet. I've been working out, been doing some things, and before that I was looking for you."

"I've been…" Riley didn't want to bring up anything about an arranged meeting and prompt worry, but Lana would probably be questioned anyways.

Lana waggled her finger, "Don't tell me you've been inside all day."

"Sure. That's where I've been," Riley agreed, and sat back down on her bed.

"You know we need to be in peak physical condition." Lana backed up and ran to jump and land beside her. "You can't afford to skimp on sword fighting either."

"Thank you, for pointing out my obvious flaws. But dude, I gained like five pounds of muscle and lost more in fat. I think I can afford to slack."

"We don't want those dudes thinking we're soft!" Lana exclaimed.

"They're not going to—"

"Which reminds me, I got some things together, we're gonna look sick for battle."

Completely thrown off yet again by Lana's spontaneity, she went along with this new thing, "And what would that be?"

* * *

Riley sat in front of Lana's vanity, whereon there were a multitude of palettes laid out that looked sloppy enough to be made by human, and worse, by Lana. It looked strangely familiar, but crude, and she couldn't put her finger on it.

"Now," Lana took hold of her friend's shoulders, "here we are."

"What is this?" She looked at a small bowl that had a few berries in it, and beside it a plate that had black, gray and white charcoal, and several other plates, that kind of looked like paint pigments, but she couldn't be sure.

"It is makeup, you uncultured swine." Lana said, and grinned while overlooking her arrangement.

"Yeah, okay, not like we need it, they don't even wear the stuff here. Not like _the elves_ need it either." She tried to get up but was shoved back down.

"Well, I was thinking more along the lines about the journey." Truly perturbed, Riley allowed her to admit her idea. "You, know like war paint."

"What the hell, Lana." She said, annoyed.

"You'll like it, we're gonna look hot."

"Okay first of all, that is so wrong on so many levels," She put her face in her hands, "and second, they're going to think we're crazy."

"Crazy awesome."

Riley was considering telling her friend she was really offensive about this whole ordeal, but wasn't exactly turned off by the idea. The only other time she'd worn some sort of traditional makeup was while she danced at powwows. "Okay," She relented, "But just don't make yourself end up looking like Johnny Depp."

Only ten minutes later, they were laughing together at the creations they'd made, and along the way Riley made sure to help her friend reign it in or risk looking like Kiss.

"Oh my god, I look like a raccoon," Riley said, yet still added more of the charcoal around her eyes.

"A fierce raccoon." Lana noted. "And actually, it's pretty cool." She leaned over and looked at Riley harder. She laughed because although it was cool, it did remind her of the animal. Except it was extended across the bridge of her straight nose to the hairline below the brows, almost reminiscent of a mask, but earthier.

They laughed a little more, and decided to wash it off then try adapting the makeup on the palettes and giving each other makeovers.

"But before we wash this off, we have to show people, we look so badass." Lana suggested. Lana had been given a more clean approach, and gradual circles were dotted on her cheekbones in a red pigment.

It wasn't five steps out the door before they'd scared a poor elf, and he gave them a perplexed look before increasing him pace.

"I'll try my best smouldering look." Riley said, finally getting into it.

"Careful you don't kill anyone with that." Lana teased.

"Ha ha." She enunciated slowly, and suddenly stopped, when she realized Lana wasn't walking beside her.

She stopped just short of walking right into Elrohir.

"Ah, I was looking for you two—Oh, what have we here?" he asked, holding Riley back to observe her.

Riley suddenly felt mildly ashamed. What was funny, she now felt like a silly little girl, especially when he quirked his brow like that. She cleared her throat and straightened. "J-just a bit of fun."

"What is that?" He asked, and leaned in closer to look.

Her cheeks burned, but not their hardest yet, since incidentally, Legolas saw fit to pass by at that moment.

"Afternoon," Legolas said, but looked over long enough in order to be intrigued to stay. "What's this all about?"

"Riley has gotten charcoal all over her face." Elrohir remarked whole-humoured.

"That's quite interesting." He said genuinely.

In order to save herself for more ridicule, she decided to speak up, "It's a cultural thing. The men used it when they went off to war." She didn't mention that they didn't look half as ridiculous as she thought she looked.

They had the good graces to be embarrassed for knocking her traditions.

"So you are expecting many wars?" Elrohir asked teasingly, but Riley knew enough about his tone that he was suspicious.

"Well, the black is supposed to absorb the light so that it doesn't get into the eyes." _Ah, science,_ Riley thought. It took them a moment to nod and concur, that that was a good point. "And I was just thinking that maybe there will be a battle or two. It adds to my intimidation factor, no?" She asked.

Lana internally thanked the lord that her friend was quick enough to divert some of the suspicions.

"Well boys, we really must be going now, get this stuff cleaned up before supper."

"Ah yes, thank you Lana for reminding me. Should I dress for a special occasion?" Legolas asked elegantly.

"No, what you got on is good. I just want us to all hang out, you know? We haven't really all sat down together. As a team." Lana said, already pulling Riley down the hall to the bathroom. She was definitely struggling to keep her laughter from bubbling over.

Riley waved at them, but was wondering at the dinner, having not heard before about this occasion. With the still fresh resentments that were in the group, she had to hand it to Lana for trying hard. Not hard enough, because she knew this could be another one of her ploys to change the company for the journey.

* * *

**This is not only a journey for self-discovery for me, but i hope you guys take away a little bit between the lines, you know with accommodating yourselves with native cultures across turtle island. so to add to that you guys need to check out native appropriations dot com, this blogger is the best, she's hilarious. **

**in particular, check out and google her article "but why can't i wear a hipster headdress?" this article and website is especially good for those of you who like native culture but are not sure how to express it. she provides a humorous and insightful point of view that makes it easy to read. personally i think everyone should read her stuff, but hey, can't stop em all, we just do what we can to educate people.**


	12. Chapter 12 Gearing Up

**Okay, so this is reaaaaaalllly late, i know. But you must know, i am super shitty at spellchecking because by the time i'm done a chapter it gets really boring for me to look over, i basically edit as i go, unless i'm more invested, but i really just wanted this to get out there for you guys cause i've been bad, i'm sowwy. my point is that when my hard drive was replaced, cause my computer was so bad or whatever, they also took away my word apps, like powerpoint, excel, word and all that shit, so i am unimpressed cause that stuff costs lots of moneys.**

**speaking of editing, anyone want to be my beta? or pen pal, idk. pen pal only if you live outside of north america.**

**anyways, you know, review at the end please! Miigwetch :)**

Chapter 12: Gearing Up

They had just finished a failed attempt at bonding in Riley's opinion. Though Lana did her best to encourage conversation between everyone, Gimli hadn't even shown up, which prompted a sour face on Legolas, and he expressed a few times that he was disappointed in the unwillingness of said dwarf to participate. Riley wanted to point out the hypocrisy of his anger, but as always she feared she might draw attention, and maybe an unwanted confrontation between her and this age old elf. Or however old he was.

And so by the end of it, Frodo still seemed stony; Boromir and Aragorn sat at opposite ends of the dining area, which only encompassed the fellowship and Arwen, Elrohir and Elrond; and the only people who spoke at all were the hobbits, Lana for conversations sake, and Gandalf, who would exchange incredulous looks with Riley occasionally. These looks arose when a terrible joke was made, or a disguised scathing remark was made, or Lana tried to make a move on Boromir. Thankfully everyone else was either too oblivious, too upset about something else, or tactful enough to those instances.

Throughout the following days little progress, if at all, was made.

Riley was bugged again and again, innocently enough by Legolas who showed genuine interest in her peoples' customs, but less so by Elrohir, who was less impressed by her than everyone else, in terms of believability. But the subject had spewed after she had been spotted on that evening not long ago with charcoal all over her face, and it had caused a little stir.

And Riley would voice this often to Lana.

They were together, both having finished bathing, and were combing each other's hair. Riley sneakily told Lana that she'd brought her brush, and actual brush that wasn't a difficult to use horse hair brush, or wide-toothed comb that they would have to overwork. And they'd discovered that with those hair tools here it didn't matter how many push ups you did, you had to be patient or wish for a haircut in order for the combs to work effectively.

"Impressive, my resourceful brother." Lana said, excitably upon discovering this. But it was plastic.

Earlier, they had a sort of silent agreement that they shouldn't exactly expose the new materials of their world. It only raised more questions that they frankly did not know the answer to.

Riley pictured a conversation that could've happened, like _"Oh hey mysterious dark skinned intruder, what is that never before seen substance tattooed onto your shirt as an insignia." Some curious bystander would say._

_"Oh, this old Nike logo? Nothing just part of my shirt." She would respond._

_"Cool, your seamstress is impressive. Impossible, almost."_

_"She sure is, because I'm from the future and alternate universe where this couldn't possible exist in your world."_

"You know they're already bubbling with questions now that they're getting to know us." The native told her friend.

"Yeah, I guess so. It's mostly just you though, I think."

"What do you mean?" This was news to her. "You seem more interesting, they actually like you."

"I _know_." Lana joked.

"_Please_." Riley said, and swatted behind her at her friend playfully.

"No, I think it has something to do with me. Just do what I do: if they ask you about yourself, just skimp on the details and ask them about themselves."

"Oh."

"And it doesn't hurt if you have a true interest in their lives." Lana stressed.

Riley was going to retort in self-defence, but realized that Lana was right. Sticking to herself wasn't going to last long, sure, but she'd stretch it for as long as she could. "Please, the only person I'd want to know more about is Legolas, and how he gets his gorgeous hair in such pristine condition." She said.

"You know, we're actually doing pretty well for ourselves in the hair department."

"For now. I'm talking about for the rest of the movie. His hair is untouchable, unknottable. The elves' beauty products can't stay with us for the rest of the trip until we make it through this, remember? Thanks to you for-"

"-I know, I know, for signing us up. Ease up on the blaming, we're going no matter what now." She sulked.

Riley sighed, and just let Lana continue to brush her hair.

"Meanwhile my hair knots just by staying still." Riley grumbled anyways.

It was quiet for a while, and then Lana asked, "Mind if I do your hair special or something?"

"Sure." Riley responded, no qualms. At first. "Why?"

"Why? Can't I just help a girl out? Girls don't have to get dolled up just for the sake of a guy, you know."

"I know that-wait, what guy is it?"

"Dammit, my plans are foiled again." Lana lamented dramatically.

"Your plans read like an open book."

"Fine. Well, I figured since you had such awful luck with the handsome Elrohir, maybe you could try your hand at his twin."

"Oh, right, I think I heard about him. I almost forgot he had one." _Twins, great, there's double the torment,_ she thought.

Lana began a little twist in the hair, leaving a few front strands loose. "A little birdie told me that he is arriving in the city today, along with a party of his fellow soldiers."

"Oh, yeah, isn't he apart of that safe-route battalion, or something?"

"Yeppers, and soon we'll be given the all clear, and we'll be off on our way."

"I thought you said we were leaving on Christmas?" Riley asked.

"We are, it's already almost Winter Solstice. That's in four days. I think in book verse they decide to leave soon. But the company is picked, so maybe Elrond will just be thinking about chartering a course."

* * *

Although parties had been arriving all month, the true notice had taken place when the elves welcomed their beloved lord Elladan and his other lordly friend back into the city.

Very little time was spent by the two actually stopping to say hello to their people, Elladan had an attendant take his horse-friend's reins and he swept off his saddle and up the steps towards the house of Elrond. But before he couldn't bear delaying news to his father, he had taken a small moment to let his eyes rove the crowd and smile, but he was surprised when he spotted two mortal women among them, not commonplace since the gathering was for the male counterparts.

Ah, he recalled, that they had been seated next to Boromir in the Council of Elrond, but he had not been acquainted with them well enough before he was off.

This was a fleeting thought, for he had more pressing information to deliver to his father, pertaining to the Ring's path.

Upon his arrival to his father's study, accompanied by his lordly friend, he was greeted by his serious father who was flanked by his twin brother, also serious.

* * *

"Step one to getting you noticed has been effective." Lana said, awaiting a mutual high five.

It was not returned. "I think you're mistaken as to what being 'checked out' is." They were standing along a high-rise wall, at the back of the gathered people in the court. "I had to struggle to even catch a glimpse of him."

"Eye contact was two-plus seconds, _and_ his whole head was turned to us." And then Lana elicited a squeal, causing several heads to turn from the dispersing crowd.

"Kay, girl. _Can't_ wait to see what you have planned for step two."

In two days, it was Winter Solstice. Elladan was seen around the courts, but seemed to stick to his circle of friends, or when not required to be with his father discussing tactics, he was with his brother, perhaps for a ride by Lana's reckoning.

Earlier that morning, Riley had gotten notice from a maid that Gilraen had completed her gift, the leather pouch, and was asked to pick it up really any time before dinner. Which was good news, because she had harvested quite a decent amount of tobacco here and there, as well as the sage at the base of the mountain.

"Okay," Lana said. She and Riley were seated in the latter's room, having just returned from a breakfast. "Step two is impressing the fuck out of him with how buff we are. He just came back from a long hard dirty sexy journey and he needs someone who can match his intensity. We're gonna look so punk coming back from a workout."

"Wait, but it's Winter Solstice, we should be celebrating, not busting our backs." _Where's the logic in that._

"Indeed, but it will show our self-discipline that obviously will impress the shit out of him."

"I don't see your logic. He's surrounded by really attractive elvish ladies everywhere." Riley scratched her head but sighed and began to get her workout things back together. She had not had them washed yet, which she would have had done today before the celebration.

"And don't you think after a bajillion years he would have picked one of them by now? He's looking for his equal, someone who's hard as eff."

"Still don't see the logic. And I'm not being modest when I say we're not equals. I'm less than five percent his age, probably."

"Meh, you've got more going for you too, you're different!" She argued positively.

"What if, like most people here probably, he doesn't like different."

"You grow on people, like a weed, when you try." Lana said, and waved her hand.

"Thanks?"

"A nice-looking weed! They're just not used to your icy demeanour, hawk eye stare, and exotic looks."

"Ah yes, the exotic card." Riley said, but Lana seemed less than attentive, in her own world.

"You two would make beautiful elf babies. If I were you, that is certainly one elf I'd stay in Rivendell for."

"Hold on! We haven't even met." Riley backtracked. _And we're not staying for tea after this ring is destroyed. _"And who says we'll even like each other? He's his _brother's_ twin."

* * *

Riley was past anger after another work out, and now they were taking a detour from their usual straight-forward route to their chambers. She knew it obviously had something to do with Elladan though she wasn't too distressed. This would go the way it would, probably awkward, the elf probably get to know her like everyone else, which is to say, learning next to nothing. If you discount Erestor and Elrond.

She let Lana quickly fixate her hair into place to the side of her head in shiny or damp waves. She wasn't averse to some pampering, and Lana had a good eye.

"Well, we've dried off just enough to give us that healthy glow," Lana said, quite spiritedly.

"You're the boss." Though Riley felt a great deal greasier and unpresentable than Lana assured.

They walked up some steps and around an open corridor, where there were quite a few dignitaries, just walking about leisurely. There was still talk amongst some of the scouts as their arms revealed some great tellings of their adventures in some cases.

Elrohir was standing in one such group with his twin and three other elves, no telling their age, only their attractiveness was indicated quite prominently.

Lana charged ahead, and whispered before any elf ear could pick up, "Act natural."

_Right, _Riley drawled in her mind. The two seemingly were walking onwards with no notice of anyone when Lana stopped short beside the intended group and began, "Oh, hello Lord Elrohir, lovely to see you again."

He bowed gently but only inclined his head when greeting Riley. She quirked her brow and curtsied for him dramatically and turned her attention back to Lana who had more to say; "How are you?"

"Very well, it's quite refreshing to see you two here, you're both usually off in another part of the houses." He said. The rest of his group had already turned their attention to the girls, and by now were curious. Seeing the inevitable question, Elrohir beat Lana to the punch. "And this is my brother twin, Lord Elladan. Elladan, this is Lady Lana."

"Cool, it's wonderful to meet you." Lana beamed. She then stood aside and presented Riley forward. "This is my friend, Riley."

"It's a pleasure, Lady Lana. Lady Riley." Riley was gracious as she ought to be, but was as confused as Elrohir's other conversation participants had not been introduced. Was this some sort of exclusion from his life as well, since she kept him out of her's? Because they seemed confused as well that they were not fully apart of the introduction, but did not say anything.

"I admit that my brother has told me a little about your predicament, but I was curious to find out for myself." Elladan said, bowing to both of them fully.

Riley ignored the latter suggestion that they should become more acquainted with each other. "Only a little?" Riley said nervously, but as she hoped, some of her humour shined through and a small smile showed on Elladan's face, even a small tug from Elrohir's lips.

"You seem quite interesting." He said graciously.

Seeing no proper or eloquent response she resorted to the short, "Thank you."

"That is to say, we don't normally meet many diverse dignitaries such as you and your Lady, Lana." He said.

Riley nodded along and was eternally grateful that he reminded her unknowingly that they were supposed to appear as people of high status from their land to those not in the know. She was usually being caught between the two stories of her being Lana's assistant to the people who mattered, and her and Lana being of Boromir's kin, having sat next to him in the council. She hardly had anything to worry about when she was first captured, because Gilraen was strict and swift to correct those who would listen that it was just a misunderstanding.

However, at the present she did not sense any animosity whatsoever. Elrohir must have mentioned some theories though.

She side glanced to him and he was rolling his eyes, and attempting to seem engaged with the other three elves who were in their armour unlike the twins. That confirmed it in her books, so she figured he had said _something_ but his twin Elladan was choosing to ignore it and just had better taste.

Riley was starting to like this elf already, who seemed so new and honest, it would just be a shame they could not be better friends in the end. _Now I'll never have someone new to bash Elrohir with, _she thought.

"So are you both attending tonight's festivities?" Elladan asked.

Lana prodded Riley to answer, which she agreed to silently. "Of course, unless my enjoyment of sitting bored in my room prevails." She said.

"Well, we really must be off."

"Until then." Elladan said smiling.

The two girls left and did not dare break out into another conversation until they were safe in their rooms.

* * *

"What a gentleman, Riley. He did not mention once our disgusting appearance. I felt like a dolled up lady!" Lana exclaimed, and dropped to the bed.

"Then why don't _you_ date him?" Her friend responded, while she was busy trying to get out of her sweaty clothes.

"First of all, _Riley_, they do not date here, they court. I think. And second, alas poor Elladan, I am destined in a star-crossed affair with the Lordly Boromir!" Her arms were thrown dramatically over her head, and she sighed lovingly.

"Yeah, okay."

* * *

They prepared and while in their underdressings, Lana tried to show her the style of dance.

"You barely know this yourself," Riley commented as they were in each others arms twirling and gazing down at their feet, "and we're _still_ bad."

"Well maybe he'll think it's endearing."

Riley snorted.

"Our goal is to get him to ask you to dance." Lana said, and stumbled over her friend's foot.

"Our first meeting was supposed to show him how proficient I was with keeping in shape. Now I can't dance." On point, she also stumbled.

"We get credit for trying. Ah, he'll probably just think you're too into serious and more daring things. Dancing is for sissies."

"_And_ royalty." Riley stated.

"Elladan already knows you're not royalty, but he still payed more attention to you and not me." Lana said in good humour.

_Good point_, Riley allowed but only in her head. She couldn't imagine, though, giving up immortality for some new girl. So her chances of getting shacked up-even if she wanted to-were slim with this elf. Or any elf. And as much as she didn't like to think about it, she wasn't so sure about Lana and Boromir. Anything could happen there, really.

* * *

At the party when it was time to dance she was told by Lana to stand sort of in the open but not conspicuously so. "To seem available," Lana mentioned.

Giving in a little, Riley joked along. "What, like this?" She asked. She struck an exaggerated feminine pose.

"That will definitely catch someone's eye." Lana laughed. They neared the dance floor which was smaller than the last large gathering of the Council, and she pushed Riley out into the open. "Go get em'."

Riley twirled around to regain some footing and amazingly thanks to Lana she landed against Elladan's arm.

"Surprise," Riley announced awkwardly and righted herself.

He had been standing with his brother, Aragorn and Arwen. They seemed tactful about it, after all, she was a young mortal.

"A result of me trying to dance I suppose." She stuttered.

There was a beat of silence before anyone said anything and it was Elrohir. "Well the steps _are_ a tad difficult…" She could just hear him finish that sentence with "for you." "…For anyone not familiar with our customs."

Riley narrowed her eyes just a fraction; it might have seemed like an involuntary twitch.

"Then I should help you become better acquainted with them." Elladan's offered honestly.

She thought that it would've taken a lot longer to persuade anyone to dance with her, and lots of conversation skills, but here he was leading her to the dance floor.

* * *

Riley left Elladan's assuring arms quite pleased, if a little smug after their dance. Not that she had drawn his attention, but at their conversation.

"So, you look pleased." Lana said from her seat once RIley came over. Riley had decided that although the conversation she'd just had was nice and pregnant, he was still too gracious to point out her flawed dancing. Even when he didn't mention it, _she_ felt uncomfortable with being always three steps behind his lead. Riley instead opted to report to Lana's side.

She'd danced for two songs, barely, and Lana had quit after one with Boromir, who had once again also become frustrated and annoyed with dancing frivolities. And she was here drinking a glass of wine.

"I am. Learned some new things." Riley answered.

"Good, at our inauguration as nominated princesses of Middle Earth you will be required to dance exquisitely, and a lord is just the person to teach you." Lana giggled at her own wit, while Riley remained unimpressed.

"What I meant was that I _learned_ some very exciting news about Elrohir, that little snake."

"You mean babe? His side has not been left empty, having had more than a few partner changes." Lana said.

"You're right." Riley confirmed, while glancing at the dance floor at the large group of people. He had been dancing quite close with her and his brother. It was sort of cute, since she figured he was just doing that unconsciously but not after speaking about it with Elladan. "But I was talking with Elladan, who seemed really mused about the whole situation. Elrohir was supposed to go on the scouting with him."

"And? Some things have changed from book to movie I guess, we can't keep track of everything."

"Well as we've been saying this whole time, we are the most likely thing that's been changing things, and Elladan proved this point. It's not _that_ crucial, it's just satisfying. He thinks Elrohir's obsessed with us."

Lana giggled a little bit.

"Think about it, he probably stayed behind because he's trying to figure us out!"

Lana downed the rest of her wine. "Uh, yeah, along with everyone else. Did he give any other suggestions why he was here?"

"Kind of; something about just wanting to stay home and keep watch."

"Mhmm, I know exactly what he was keeping watch for. Your booty." Lana whispered with a wink, and kept her giggled rumbling.

A sort of realization came over her and her cheeks burned. "Lana!"

"You're right, I should say derriere."

"Oh my god, you're actually so embarrassing sometimes. Can we please go back to the room, I can't bear us together in public." _Or more specifically, you, _she thought.

"It's really too bad we didn't get you guys together sooner." Lana said sweetly, while beginning to rise. Unfortunately she tripped and fell, hidden under the table where she was sitting.

* * *

The next day, back to being sober, they were approached by Gilraen while they were, who seemed a little put off, but still nice.

"You forgot, Riley." She held out her hand and was holding a tanned leather hide pouch about the size of a CD case but with more room inside.

"Oh, I almost forgot!" Riley took it and held it appreciatively in front of her, and then hung it over her shoulder. She was actually pleased with how they sewed it together, even though it looked more elvish than Ojibwe style. "Thank you, so much." She said.

"It was my duty to your journey Riley, I was happy to oblige." Gilraen said, and inclined her head, then she was off. "Also, I was told that Gandalf wishes to speak to you both."

Riley sometimes wondered how much she knew about this all, because she was sure that Gilraen wasn't filled in on their whole mission, and yet she knew enough to guess.

"And what's that for?" Lana asked, interrupting Riley's thoughts. Lana was looking over her shoulder and at the pouch with interest.

"It's for my medicines." She said nonchalant.

"Like the sage?"

"Yeah, and, er, the pipe weed."

"Um, no offence, but why?" Lana asked meekly.

"It's sort of a long explanation, I'd be happy to tell you after our rendezvous with Gandalf. When we're not wandering the city at least, and with some privacy." Riley said.

"Yeah, sure, no problem."

It wasn't unusual that Gilraen or anyone for that matter only told them who was looking for them, or vice versa, because it had gotten to a point where one knew where to find someone, given their routines.

Take Frodo, Sam and Merry and Pippin. They were usually in the kitchens, their rooms, or with Bilbo, in their general vicinity. They all really followed Bilbo's lead in that he was good at attracting their attention with stories. Riley knew that they were writing his journey's down and jotting down what the other four had accomplished thus far. But only because Pippin would brag about their adventures sometimes.

Others slightly less predictable, maybe they stuck to their kin, but Gandalf was surely being pensive somewhere, out in the open, and yet alone. A big grey wizard with a pointy hat wasn't too hard to find.

So they found him smoking his pipe on a stone bench a little ways away from the kitchen. Which was a little surprising.

"Hey, Gandalf." Lana said chipper.

"Afternoon."

"What are you doing over here?" She asked.

Riley silently agreed it was a little odd to find him here.

"Well, it pertains to our conversation." He said. "Maybe you have already guessed, now that lord Elladan has arrived," he inserted a knowing smile, "but he was the last of the scouts to return, and our journey will begin soon. On the twenty-fifth we depart at dawn."

They did their best to appear surprised. "So soon?" Lana forced.

He looked at them hard for a moment, but continued, "This is why I am seated near the kitchens. We fear the hobbits may raid them now that they realize we will be leaving shortly. They've been hard to satiate during our stay, but the elves fear that the stores will be left for dead. And of course, the hobbits fear me most." He said smugly.

Something caught the corner of Riley's eye. It was Merry, who was tip toeing around the corridor, and when he locked eye contact with her he froze. He tested another step, but Riley shook her head slightly and tilted her head towards Gandalf. He tip toed backwards out of the situation before he was spotted.

Gandalf and Lana were looking at her and then to where she had been looking, only to see nothing, for Merry had escaped just in time.

"So just pack?" Riley said and cleared her throat.

"Yes, we have less time than it seems. Make sure you're well rested."

* * *

**End of chapter 12**

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	13. Chapter 13 At Dawn

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* * *

Chapter 13: At Dawn

They were packing the first opportunity they had the next day, but with new packs they were given that were easier to disguise in the wilderness, and had a much better flair than their modern things. Riley had been able to pack first, and managed to stuff one of her hoodies inside the the bottom of her bag. She knew though that it would be loose enough to fit over some of her padding. She wouldn't be as bulky as say, Boromir, but she did feel at least a little safe from the cold.

Later that day, several more effects were given to her, such as a new pair of boots and pants.

Over the past couple of months she had worn out some of her old clothes by using them for exercising and sword fighting. Other than her sweater, she could keep one pair of leggings, and a black t-shirt, both of which were a little big now, but they were a little piece of home and relatively thin enough to wear under everything.

Her boots she had worn here were already old. And now it seemed ridiculously so because of the terrain here, but the new boots were obviously just made, and to fit. The only thing she could salvage about her old boots were the orthopaedic soles, which were still in good condition, and she slipped those into the new leather ones.

Her high arches felt better supported, but it would still take all the time before their journey started to break in the leather because it was snug over the top of her foot.

Those and her looser pants were a dark brown, except for her overshirt, which was a blue linen loose shirt with button up wrists.

The last were heavy leather wrist guards, and supple pair of gloves, a dark brown cape and a chest guard which humorously reminded her of a thinner version of a chest protector in hockey.

And just like that, her bottom lip dropped. Everything was about to happen quickly. Sometimes pushing out memories was easy to do, until she got all existential with just a subtle reminder of home, making her wonder if she would return.

She tried to keep good faith. Gizhe Manidoo got her here, it'll get her out.

Coming out of her stupor, she went back to inspecting her new things and was thankful that she didn't see a corset in sight of the small bundle, especially after the many impressions she'd gotten from Lana. That girl had planned out so many outfit possibilities, Riley could hardly keep up and point out the impracticalities. But a corset was one of them, which Lana had figured would be used to keep their chests down, but the elves had fashioned them underclothing earlier, and not half bad, very practical.

At last, she was given a sword and belted sheath, nothing special or intricate like one of those special swords Riley had seen in the movies, but you could still tell an elf had made it. No writing along the side, maybe she'd get it personalized later, if she was feeling more confident with her skill with the blade.

It was not made for a near seven foot giant like Aragorn or Boromir, but she knew she would still required two hands if she wanted to cleave anything. She swung it a couple times with one arm, and it was manageable that way, but not ideal.

Lana fancied herself a mini Legolas, because Elrond saw that she was better off with the bow, and had been notified that she was not half bad with a knife, so a bow and two knives she had been given, even if her archery hero only carried one. Again, nothing extraordinary, but what did that matter to her? The weapons were in good shape, and they were hers.

She had a pen in her room, so maybe she'd mark it later and personalize it then. She removed everything and changed into some rougher clothing.

With a mischievous grin, she grinned and crept over to Riley's room.

"Are we ready or what?" She asked Riley excitedly upon her arrival.

"Ready as ever. But I'm not taking these last few days for granted." She said, and finished belting the straps along her ribs.

"I say we help the hobbits hoard the food, that way they might be more likely to share the spoils… You look cool." Lana complimented, and came to stand behind Riley, who had moved in front of the mirror to inspect herself.

"I do." She smiled, and donned her cape. That was her favourite part. "You haven't gotten your period yet have you?"

Riley gave the girl credit for at least looking a little concerned before answering this question for the second time since they've been here. "No." Lana said.

"Hmm." Riley noticed how Lana dropped eye contact and avoided a confrontation. That frustrated her because she wasn't looking for one. Well, not yet at least. They haven't even left Rivendell.

"My one regret is that I never tried to learn Sindarin." Lana said, changing the subject unabashedly.

"You can speak French." Riley provided.

"French is _so_ twenty-first century."

Riley snorted at her friend, then began to remove the protective gear.

Then Lana began again, "The only thing i miss from there is my razor."

"I think, in your case, hairy armpits and visiting Middle Earth is a fair trade off." Riley said. She wanted to keep her travelling clothes as clean as possible until the day they left, so she changed into some of her old clothes, though they were torn some. She just wanted to match Lana's half hazard look.

There was no direct reply, but Riley could have sworn she heard Lana mutter "visiting" in a questioning tone. She rolled her eyes and they went about their day, mostly hoping to sharpen up their weapon skills.

"I have another ice breaker set up." Lana said excitedly.

"You know those don't work." Riley stated.

"That's because they're with people who don't get along. This ones just for us and the hobbits. Though I think we need one other person. Nah, we'll manage by ourselves."

They arrived in their usual training grounds but they were not used to having anyone other than themselves in it at this time. In more casual clothing stood Merry, Pippin, Frodo and Sam, chatting amiably.

They seemed excited when the girls entered.

"Let's all sit in a circle." Lana proposed. Once everyone was seated, she began, "I'd like to play a game with you." Her fingers danced across each other deviously.

So this was it, the game was called the Sitting Duck. Everyone except one person was supposed to pair up and make a ring. The extra person was supposed to sit in the middle and wait to be touched. The pairs would sit back to back, one facing outwards, the other facing the sitting duck in the middle.

Basically, upon the duck's call, the partner on the inside will start to run to touch the duck while their partner has to wrestle them back, until someone does break free from their partner to touch the duck.

Frodo was in the middle at first, while Lana sat outside of Merry, and Riley sat on the inside of Pippin and Sam, all seemed nervous except Lana, who couldn't be more gleeful.

"I apologize in advance, Miss." Sam said with his back on half of hers while he shared the other half with Pippin. He didn't sound particularly regretful, maybe a little giddy as well.

"There's no room for sorry in this game, Sam." Lana called out, sniggering with Merry.

"So, on my count?" Frodo asked.

"Yes." Lana confirmed.

It was quiet for a little, as everyone waited.

"Go!" Frodo shouted.

Riley had barely transferred herself onto her haunches before set of arms had tackled her forward from around her neck. From the laughing, she could tell it was Pippin. Riley tried clambering forward, but Sam had planted himself on her straight calves, rendering her immobile, even though she struggled. She moved, but wasn't sure if she should genuinely try to shake them off.

It was no use either way, because Merry had already reached Frodo. Lana was five feet behind him, with her arms outstretched from her lying position on the ground, where she had obviously leapt.

Everyone adjusted back to normal, and dusted themselves off. It was the first round, and everyone had been going a little soft, but after Riley had the chance to exchange intense glances with her adversaries, she knew it was about to get rough.

"You hobbits." Lana said, a bit winded. "Okay, so now you switch positions."

Since Frodo was just in the middle, he was now on the very outside and was joined with Pippin, since Riley was now on the outside of the ring.

"I'll get you Sam," Riley joked.

He seemed taken aback, since he either did not recognize or associate competitiveness with Riley. "Alright." He agreed smiling.

Merry was a bit more devious with his position, and caught them all off guard.

After a few rounds, everyone was laughing away, with more bruises than they cared.

"Okay, my turn, finally!" Lana said from the middle.

Riley was on the inside with Frodo, and were now clambering to the middle in earnest fun.

It was just Frodo and Pippin rolling around, meanwhile Riley was tackled for around the fifth time.

She managed to stand up with Merry wrapped around her like a scarf and Sam like a boot. Trying her best to strip them of her, they finally all landed in a pile, but still wrestling.

All around their laughs could be heard.

Merry then tried to tickle her, which seemed to work.

What Riley thought was merely a squeal was more akin to a scream. The laughter around the camp could not disguise her fault. She was horribly ticklish it was almost obscene, which is why she generally liked to dress herself as opposed to Gilraen or Lana doing up her back.

Riley finally forfeited, and rolled over in sanctuary when she saw that Frodo and beaten Pippin down and won.

Their hairs were all messy, and boot marks were everywhere.

"Afternoon." Their attention was drawn to Gandalf at the mouth of the entrance to their clearing. "I was wondering why I could not find you all near the kitchens." As always, his expression was hard to read, but he was amused.

Behind him, a troubled Elladan stood, walking in a mere few seconds afterwards. Both were still wondering what was going on.

"We were just…" Riley began, but she looked at everyone else in their little wrestling matches and realized that she was not sure. It didn't look much organized.

"Want to play, Gandalf?" Frodo asked, sitting up.

"I'm quite alright."

"Elladan?" Lana offered. Riley struggled not to roll her eyes at the obvious set up.

"Um. What is it I would be playing?"

All of a sudden, Pippin gave a joyous cry, "Ha, I win!" He had crawled over to Lana while everyone else had stopped.

"Pip, you can't, the game paused so we could talk to Gandalf." Merry said.

"No one said anything!" He argued.

"I'm not quite sure this is a proper game to be playing."

"Afraid to get dirty, elf?" Lana asked good-naturedly.

Riley wasn't sure if it was just her, but she would never insult someone who was basically royalty, even if it was a joke. Maybe Elrohir a little bit, but not much. There was only so much you could get away with under the guise of being foreign.

Elladan smiled though, as though he were taken aback by part of Lana's charm and her audacity. He had obviously taken a small offence at his unwillingness to dirty himself, and he unbuttoned his over coat, like the hobbits had, and walked over to join them.

"Actually, Lana, I think we'd need one more." Riley proposed.

"I can fetch my brother," Elladan said, "He would not stand for the pride of the elves being attacked."

Riley could see the friendly competition, and the complete childishness of it all, but the fact was still engraved in her head that this was happening with male elves and hobbits. And not to slight the hobbits, but it was immediately more uncomfortable to contemplate the situation of the game with a beautiful elf rather than four small hobbits. Her cheeks burned with frustration, because although she was rather restrained when it came to becoming more than friendly, it did not mean she never thought about it. Especially in a wrestle, where they were all in close contact.

So she let them come. But when they came, they brought Boromir and Aragorn and Legolas and several other elves who all seemed intrigued, though only Elladan and Elrohir played the first and against each other.

After a round, where Riley did not have to face either of the twins, she elected to step out.

"Now that you see how it's done, you all should join." Riley said spiritedly to the observers, but frankly was glad they would be there to fill in her position. She wasn't even embarrassed that she had lost.

And they did, all not seeming to care for their clothes, because none of them were too fine to wrestle in apparently, though Riley kind of objected to that internally whenever she saw the embroidery on them. Lana stepped out too, but for a different reason, the reason being she wanted to stand beside Riley and enjoy the view.

"Spectacular, isn't it?" She giggled.

"What is?" Riley asked.

"So _fine_."

Riley rolled her eyes but stayed to marvel as well.

"Where's Gilmi?" Riley noticed.

"Oh, Elladan said that he did not want to join, so to quote Elrohir after that he said, "what business do dwarves have in tall folk's joy, other than to ruin it?", and I did not want to mention that that was a slight to the hobbits, but he doesn't seem to classify them in the same category." Lana explained. "He turned beet red when he saw them here."

"He did? Oh, I would have payed money to see that." Riley smiled.

"Any case, it's too bad you don't like them."

"You knew I couldn't the moment we got here."

"I know. But I still like to try, maybe convince you." Lana defended, and nudged her friend playfully.

"Well, if you can get him shirtless before tomorrow morning." The round wasn't going smoothly at all, from their stance. Everyone was preoccupied, and not giving in with their wrestling, though the hobbits were having some of the trouble. "We should go."

"Why?" Lana asked in her daze of gorgeous men.

"Because if any of them knew we saw them act like idiots, it would be impossible for you to talk to them later."

They must have been more caught up with their battles to notice the mortal girls, though on their way out, several lady elves came to enjoy the spectacle, and giggle away, though in a considerably more graceful air, which made some of the elves showcase more of their masculinity. Riley and Lana slipped past them, and went onto the buildings.

"We should grab some food while we're at it." Lana schemed.

"But Gandalf said they are keeping watch for the hobbits at the kitchens." Riley said as they made it onto smooth floors.

"Precisely, which is why we will not be such a threat."

* * *

They made it back to their quarters with armfuls of food, and they received some weird looks from the maids and errand runners, but unquestioned.

They laid everything atop Riley's bed, next to some of her things which were not quite packed, she had some room for snacks.

"So the other day you were going to tell me what this means." Lana said and gestured to the items that would be occupying the top of Riley's pack. It was the sacred medicines Riley was able to garner while she was here, and it rested on the blanket next to the bag.

"Well you already know that sage is purifying." she responded, folding up her hide bag.

"How's that, though?"

"It drives away negative energy," Riley told her.

"And the tobacco?"

"It's a very sacred prayer vessel. You know the sacred pipe? The smoke from the sacred tobacco carries the people's prayers to the spirit realm. You wouldn't inhale, but take some and blow it out. Or you take it, pray and place it on the earth. But it depends on what you're doing with it. I mostly put it down on the ground."

It was quiet for a little while longer as they managed to pack everything in their bags effectively.

"Hey do you really believe in these things?" Lana asked, neither making eye contact.

Now I do, Riley thought. "What kind of-"

"I didn't mean it like that, but really." Just by the subdued and serious tone in her voice, Riley decided to calm down and answer the questions just as seriously. She turned around and sat down to face Lana.

"Yeah," she said, "it's really easy for me, it's what I grew up with."

"Oh." Lana breathed. Riley could tell she wanted to know more.

"You know when something just feels right?"

"Not really," Lana admitted.

"Okay...well, it's like nothing on earth because I can't feel comfortable anywhere else. I couldn't feel this way in a church, no one can make me feel good at school. They taught me who I am in the lodge."

"But like what about now that we're so far away?" Lana realized her questions sounded a little rude, but they both never minded that for now.

"Listen, I know you don't really believe in a lot, but for me I don't think it matters where I am. I'll use these medicines because I know they will help me. I know that what I got is waiting for me to go home, and I'd like to be in one piece."

"Yeah, that's true, they probably miss you."

It was quiet for a bit before Riley realized that Lana was tearing up a bit.

"Hey, come here," Riley said, and caught her friend in an embrace. In times that she wished she was home, she almost forgot that maybe Lana wasn't as keen, if not resentful of her parents. It was a little annoying but they were still best friends, and just because they were worlds away didn't make that any different. "We'll get through this."

Lana sniffled a lot but leaned back and gave a bleary smile and wiped it away. "I know we can." She said.

Riley was sort of glad for this turn of events because it drew some focus out of her, because she wasn't quite sure how to explain herself especially when she felt guilty enough that the majority of her belief stemmed from her arrival here and meeting the spirit her people revered. It had alway been there, her belief, but now amplified a hundred times over.

But even though she had not met the Wendigo, or the Great Spirit in any physical form, she knew at least she wasn't abandoned by the one who counted the most. And though Lana might not believe in anything more than the forces that brought them here, Riley would make an unknowing believer out of her yet, to Gizhe Manidoo who would be the one to save them.

"You better get to bed. It's early but we have a large journey. That starts tomorrow." Riley reminded her.

"Right." She sniffled and rubbed her eyes, and left promptly.

* * *

Riley stood anxiously the next morning beside Gandalf in the courtyard before the gates of Rivendell. She was tired and ill at ease so far.

"I did not expect you to be the first one here." He said humorously.

"I am _so_ excited." She put down her things, and readjusted her belts.

"You mustn't fear."

"How do you know-"

"She will feel it. You see her as confident, but like you know will come to pass, she will falter."

"But I-"

"She must believe, Riley. For your mission's sake."

Lord Elrond came with his delegation and family, with Arwen and Aragorn trailing behind. No one seemed to be in a great mood, maybe hopeful. Elrond seemed to sense their conversation, and nodded in their direction. It drew the attention of his sons.

She noticed Elrohir at least granted her this one day solace from his rude behaviour, and even smiled a little. It was probably to ease some of her anxiety, but she knew that wouldn't disappear for a long time.

Riley felt like she was going to throw up. One by one, as the members arrived, the butterflies in her stomach pushed themselves upwards, and soon she might vomit out her breakfast. At last, Bill, their carrying horse came.

"Where is Lana?" Pippin asked.

"Here I am, don't you dare leave without me!"

All turned to her figure jogging towards them with a slice of bread hanging out of her mouth, and bag and bow hanging off of her arms. Some laughed at her all too familiar by now quirks, which had somehow turned charming in these past couple of months. Riley rolled her eyes, but beckoned her beside herself.

"Where did you put your phone?" Lana whispered.

"In my bra. Only place I can make sure." She said.

Elves came forward to bid them well, if only in passing, because not many cared to become acquainted with more than Legolas and Aragorn, but the twins came to stand before them.

"Though you have only met, my brother wishes you well," Elrohir drawled.

Riley gave him a questioning look before turning to bow in front of Elladan.

"Yes, I hope what little time we have all become friends. I hope to see you all again when you complete your Quest."

Lana kept her head down in a triumphant smirk, but Riley held her own, and smiled gratefully. "I thank you warmly, my Lord, for if we had only met earlier, perhaps our relationship might have grown, and in association, mine and your brother's."

Despite that, her inner self pled for her to not act so bold when she was truly a coward. She was only motivated by the fact that they may never see each other again, or even if they did, she would be going.

The brothers bowed gracefully and went in behind their father, on either side of their lovely sister.

Finally, Elrond came to stand before them.

"The Ring Bearer is setting out on the Quest of Mount Doom. On you who travel with him, no oath nor bond is laid to go further than you will. Fare thee well, hold to your purpose." He scanned the party meaningfully, and smiled with his hard demeanour. "May the blessings of Elves and Men and Free Folk go with you."

Gandalf announced, "The Fellowship awaits the Ring Bearer."

Frodo stepped forward, and walked around to the the head of the pack and out the gates.

By this point Riley feared fainting, and had to grip Lana's shoulder, because she spent all her energy on trying to appear confident in front of Elrohir. She shook herself multiple times, but thankfully escaped notice as everyone was fixed upon dear Frodo.

They were kept in the middle of the group much to her comfort, but that kept her under constant watch.

With every step they took outside of Elrond's realm and protection, her heart fell. Questions burned through her, now more than ever. She was fit physically, but what other toll would she pay by the end of this quest?

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	14. Chapter 14 The Long Road

**Hello all, I'm almost done school so i might be able to update a little more often. Like literally, by the end of this week if i don't crack i could be finished. well i'll be finished but i'll be done my first year with little bumps and bruises.**

**anyways, enjoy this because this story is my baby, and babys are cute and they drool and i babble on more than them to make you read this and im not making sense anymore and i have nothing to offer other than this story, so take it please.**

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Chapter 14: The Long Road

Riley assumed that since it was the first day and morning at that that her nervousness was making the cold seem worse, but after the first night of being camped and rested enough to walk again, she was cold again. It was windy like there was no tomorrow, except this feeling repeated for a long time, so much so that she had to pull over her extra sweater when they slept, or when it was too much to bear during the day. Gradually everyone was pushed a little further, and it did not matter how much pain she had put herself through before with training, Riley was sore. She thought about the aspirin tucked deep within her pack, she could not risk looking through it as they were walking, because of the noise the pills and the plastic make.

She was told that their path was to stick to the west of the Mountains to which she was scared for. It was barren, and if the cold kept its promise, then up Caradhras would be no small feat. She shivered in her cloak and tightened it, just the thoughts enabled her to feel it.

Riley felt a little better that Lana was in good spirits next to her, when she spent the time with her, because the girl tended to move all along the trudging line, but when she did it helped Riley's own attitude as well. Unable to really catch all of what Lana was saying, Riley wished she could staple the girl to her hip so that she could keep an ear out for what she was saying, but she had to trust a little.

It was almost two days later and they were upon the rougher and yellow cold landscape when a mental damper in things was felt. Nobody said it, but they knew what the source of the emotion was. Riley gazed resentfully over at Frodo, not that he could help it. She'd never felt so miserable beyond avail. It was that thing around his neck. She felt like it was around her neck too, pulsing at her like a dull ache with no aspirin in sight. It seemed to affect her more than she cared to admit, along with everything else, but at least she could admit it, and she wasn't exactly taking it out on everyone else.

The journey was not what she was prepared for, despite her expectations being met. To explain, she thought she was overestimating the difficulty, but it was matched. Her muscles were still tired by the end of each day, even with a horse to carry their things. And unlike Frodo's obvious journey to physically put the ring into the fires of Mount Doom, her motivation was unclear. Sure, destroy or defeat the Wendigo, but how? She knew Gizhe Manidoo would help her but she was not sure how to administer his powers yet. It was a work in progress.

Silence usually overtook the group when the hobbits ran out of fun, when Legolas ran out of songs to sing for the day, or the weather wasn't a thriving topic of conversation.

And the days were longer than she expected. What would she do when they had to run across Rohan to save Merry and Pippin?

But through all of this, there was Lana, bright as a bulb. Or a bulb in the electrified twenty-first century Canada. She also helped provide conversation, and if she felt the ring she would fight it to let Riley know subtly that she could handle things on the path.

Something that Riley took to doing often was waking up at dawn. It meant being at that watch with Legolas, but he took on most of the responsibilities, not entirely trusting her abilities she suspected. And she did not blame him, because his eyes were sharper, and a frankly what more could she offer to him? But he let her do her own things.

At dawn she would stretch foremost, and straighten herself up. The leather bag she never took off, and for a good reason she supposed. If there was something that would help her in the end, then it would be the medicines and she worked hard to get them. Losing them would be a heavy, and tedious to recover, because they were always moving except to rest. Which was only used to rest.

Riley went for a morning pee around a couple of bushes and did her best to not get anything on herself, especially her hands. The best she could do was literally wipe her hands off on clean dewy grass or in most cases, frosted grass, and air dry in the cold morning air. It was annoying at first, and she dearly wished for some baby wipes or _something_ but this would have to do until she was able to wash those bits in a bath or some source of water.

"Thank god for deodorant," she would say. And she would hide her stick of it from Lana.

Anyways, with her tobacco, she would sit usually behind a tree to shield any prying eyes and pray, that maybe something would come. Usually for the Great Spirit so that she could talk to him and maybe weasel some answers out.

But it was usually thanks that an orc hadn't chopped her head off yet, and she put her tobacco down.

* * *

Riley was beginning to wonder how long it would take them to get to any action. She couldn't recall what in the movie came next because montages were so misleading. How could she ask anyone other than Lana? Even Lana was sometimes surprised by forgetting some details, and they were always around everyone else, so there was hardly time when all Riley wanted to do was sleep, and when there was opportunity she criticized herself for being impatient. Let things happen in stride. If anything important happened between now and when they reached Moria, it would have been in the movie.

"Which way are we going?" Lana asked, lurking over Gandalf's shoulder.

He was currently in deep conversation with Aragorn and Gimli, the ranger seeming particularly perturbed by her question. "We'll reach Hollin and decide from there. We are still young in our journey and many things could arise in time." Aragorn said almost annoyed, but still with his calm conduct.

"Why not the Gap of Rohan?" Boromir asked but it fell to deaf ears.

"We should be going through Moria." Gimli muttered to himself.

Both males gave the impression they were in the right, prompting Lana with her all-knowingness to smile. She nodded, and carried on her amusements elsewhere where she wouldn't be a bother. Riley watched the exchange from her perch, picking her teeth, but said nothing. She could see in her friend's demeanour that it was getting harder to deny her urges to just speak up.

Over the past couple of days, despite her promise she found Legolas to actually be good company. He did not speak out of turn, he didn't pry and he kept his suspicious glances at her to a minimum. She figured him being the one to be at the rear of the line put him at an advantage of seeing everyone with his keen eyes so she downplayed even if Lana didn't.

In this downtime, while Riley was relaxing, she saw Lana draw her knives and she began to play fight with the hobbits. Nothing harmful or even close to a spar, it was only a mockery. It appeared as though they were imagining themselves fighting valiantly against orcs and foes, cutting at the air with fierce poses.

Riley looked around and made eye contact with Boromir, who smiled like someone who might have been proud of their children, and they grinned slightly, and continued to watch them. Riley berated herself for a small moment, imagining him instead as the man who was going to try to steal the Ring, which cleared some of her conscience.

* * *

"I miss them. The songs, the dancing. If there is one place I will visit before we return, it is Rivendell." Lana said to Riley lovingly over her bread and cheese. They were seated for their late afternoon meal.

Legolas was the nearest and he walked over to them in interest. "Then perhaps you will not have to miss half the enjoyment." He said assuringly.

"That's right, you sing." Lana said excitedly.

He seemed taken aback, because he had not told her before.

"The other elves, particular the female variety, seemed to take a keen liking to it." Lana teased.

To her credit, he blushed and cleared his throat. "Yes, well thank you, they-"

"They probably have good taste. You should sing for us." She assured him. Lana was internally relieved for saving herself from explaining something she should not know.

He stopped his protests and bowed. In his intricate mother tongue, he began his singing.

A good calm came over the company, though nobody turned to enjoy it, they just listened.

Riley and Lana smiled at each other and they carried on listening and watching the hobbits begin their little sparring. It was interesting because into their second week, they had actually given more of an effort to duel, garnering more attention from the true swordsmen of the company.

"We should join." Lana suggested in a whisper, as she was careful not to interrupt Legolas. This was probably her third invitation over the past few days as well, each receiving a decline.

"No, they're doing so well." Riley passed, not to break the cycle.

"We could do _much_ better in that department."

"I would hate to interrupt. And I'm tired." The last thing she needed was to accidentally draw her own blood.

"Fine, party pooper." Lana said, and rose from her spot, and set her bow and quiver down, which she had scarcely removed this journey, except to sleep and to spar like this.

She pulled out one knife which Riley would gladly refer to as more of a sword because it was as long as her own forearm to her longest finger. Lana excitedly entered their little group, and they began their play fights.

Interesting enough though unlike other spars, Boromir came to help her. By some urge to correct her form and to be in close quarters she suspected.

Over some time Riley rolled her eyes at the obvious attempts at flirtation from both parties that only she could seemingly see.

_Boromir seriously needs to hold back on the cheese-factor_, Riley thought as the man would hold her friend's arms instructively, yet seemed to be fuelled by the need to touch. _Or maybe he's been so career driven this is why he's so obvious, he hasn't had time to focus on the ladies._ This amused Riley a little, but mostly annoyed her. It actually almost made her sick, because he was a bit old. Old for Lana anyways. Lana was going to be nineteen soon, and she wasn't sure about here in Middle Earth but that was barely legal in Canada. They joke around like fifteen year old humour still.

And it was nearly everyday until they reached an old ruin that was once named Hollin, or Eregion that they sparred, one of their only sources of fun that could be had.

Riley and Lana both already took to liking medieval looking ruins in general, but this old, clearly elvish ruin had them gaping.

"We will stay here tonight," Aragorn announced, and unloaded his things once they were in an area suitable for them all.

"I cannot wait, perhaps a warm supper?" Pippin asked hopefully, but to no one in particular.

"Perhaps," Gandalf said, and winked at him.

They were allowed to set up camp better, especially under more cover, and were anxious to cook before dusk came.

"And the ladies may rejoice, for the river Glanduin is just southwards." Boromir teased, though he was only close to Lana. "You may bathe properly."

"_If_ we go south." She replied, with no hope.

"Then you have not become acquainted with my charisma. Aragorn has not yet given hint to our direction, but if he has any inclination for our safety, he will take us south to the Gap of Rohan. They are homely but may aid us if they realize who I am."

She smiled at him but only to reassure his futile plight.

After they were all fed and tired, the talk of their path was brought up.

It was only between Gandalf and Aragorn so far, meanwhile Riley and Gimli sat nearby to listen. Legolas was tinkering with his bow with Lana by his side while Boromir treated Merry and Pippin with a spar against the two of them.

"I would not take the Gap of Rohan, Gandalf. If Saruman is as you say, then it would be unwise to bring ourselves closer to him."

"Quite true, but then, that leaves us with still few choices."

"We could go through the Mines of Moria. My cousin Balin would give us a royal welcome." Gimli proclaimed.

Aragorn considered this, before putting down his pipe and they all watched the sparring. "I would not, Gimli, unless we had no other choice."

A lot of the times, Riley was actually happy to not be making decisions. But she knew that there was not going to be any excitement on her part for scaling the icy mountains just East of them. And Lana made at least some sense when she wished she could just tell everyone what was going to happen. It meant speeding through some things, and although they were all warming up, only the few who knew their imminent choice of path were preparing for the cold.

Riley looked up into the sky thoughtfully, and wondered at this particular moment.

She was lazing, leaning back, and away from anyone's direct attention. She realized this scene was similar to the one in the movie.

And she wasn't sure what they actually were, but maybe crows, and they were supposed to be coming towards them. But no cloud in the sky betrayed them. _Maybe on another day,_ Riley thought.

Instead, she focused on the sword fighting as well, or the Boromir show. Lana had joined in with her general splendour. Well, not precisely excellent swordsmanship, but with vigour and amiability that had Riley rolling her eyes.

Until now, Riley was happy to watch as Lana became her self in front of the fellowship and was content to sit aside while they sparred together, never actually considering her nature of being a listener rather than the one on stage speaking to be a hindrance on this journey. It saved her from explaining herself often and embarrassment but she found envy rooting into the back of her mind.

Lana was so at ease around everyone, she had taken well to the bow and sword and had this wonderful gift of relieving tension. Riley suspected it was a combination if qualities, of which had also allowed her to get away with things in their world. Like her charisma, her humour, her loving nature and her undeniable level of attraction. This seemed to draw everyone to be around her or near to listen, to laugh with or just be in company when the journey seemed at its lowest.

Riley was the type, as fore mentioned, to listen and observe people. She wasn't precisely analytical or wholly intelligent fact-wise but was more attuned to people. Like a shift in tone or two.

So evidently she sensed the shift in energy around the company when Lana was at her brightest and all seemed to flock, even Gandalf on occasion whenever he wasn't thinking of the journey, like Riley.

And so on this day, she sat amongst the rocks picking at the small moss coverings, waiting for an opportune moment. Building up whatever courage she had left after this long journey so far, she stood and tightened the belt around her waist, which sheathed her sword.

"Can I join?" She asked, stopped five feet before the older four company who were watching the hobbits, Lana and Boromir spar lightly. Lana looked over in surprise and Pippin tripped her while she wasn't looking.

She ignored Gandalf's bemused left bushy eyebrow that was raising.

"I dunno, Riley, can you?" Lana said breathily and wholly amused. She was on the grass, propped up on her elbows.

Riley smiled but tucked that comment away for future reference. "Well, if you're not all too preoccupied." She said awkwardly. She thought that this is exactly why she didn't speak up, it was as if only now they realized she had a second head.

A pause rang out for a beat before Boromir stepped forward after being kicked by Lana. "B-but of course we have room, my lady," he said, leaning forward to rest on his sword. "I must rest but perhaps Legolas or Aragorn could help you with your duelling with a sword."

"W-well thank you." Her cheeks flamed, she had not wanted this to be a big production, just a seamless transition.

While everyone saw the brightened cheeks as a sign or her being embarrassed, Riley felt inside this whole situation would not have arisen if she had stayed seated. And also she felt this was all a little too patronizing, especially in comparison to how they treated Lana.

In Canada, Lana didn't have to try hard to gain recognition, but for Riley it had been a struggle because she wasn't so open with her accomplishments. In fact it had taken most of her high school career in sports for anyone to realize she was an asset. Accomplishments in high school, the small world that it is, hadn't meant so much to her that everyone had to know of them, but now in this world Riley could see how boasting a little wasn't a fault if you wanted an ounce of respect. She cursed herself for not speaking up and for under rating herself for the past and present.

Aragorn had elected himself and stood in the imaginary ring of sparring, and beckoned her over. The small smile that graced his lips gave her little confidence as the rest of the company stood back to observe.

"Well let's not all stand and watch," she muttered. She drew her sword choppily and still inexperienced from the lack of use.

She stood in the ready position she remembered from the month they had spent training and raised her sword.

"Stagger your feet more and bend your knees." Boromir said, finally seated and watching with the others.

Riley did so, albeit a little pink in the cheeks.

"When you are ready," Aragorn offered, also in his stance.

Pursing her lips, she lunged and struck, and was deflected easily. She tried again a moment and a half later, with the same result.

Five minutes later by Riley's estimated count, the only thing that had changed was her increasing fatigue and frustration. Everyone was still giving her hints but all at the same time.

What with all the suggestions she felt like a puppet, and only felt safe when she listened to everything but that's exactly what had her faulting, the onslaught of everything.

And a budding feeling inside her made her feel pitied, since Aragorn was going easy on her. Not that she expected to feel the full throttle of a sword fight with a king, she at least hoped to make him put in some sort of effort.

In frustration, she lunged forward again, but the man sidestepped and turned her blade and quickly threw her on to her back with her momentum. His eyes went wide and he immediately stepped back. The company was quiet to hear the wind rush out of the girl's lungs.

Riley looked over at them inconspicuously and groaned when they gave no indication to have not seen that embarrassing fall. To save what little dignity she had left, chose to giggle and smile, despite the pain, "Well that went well," she said tactfully.

Everyone in the company was glad there was no harm done, be it pride or physical well-being.

Aragorn offered her his hand and said, "I am sorry, I did not mean for that to happen." Which Riley inevitably took for 'you're much worse than I expected.'

"Care for another round?" He asked lowly, though wasn't encouraging in case she did not wish to.

She took his hand and stood, but resisted the urge to massage her shoulder. "Sure." She said, falsely chipper.

What had happened to her observations of previous spars? She chastised herself, but credited her lack of concentration to everyone chatting and as a result distracting her. Well, she knew there would be noise all over the fields of Pellenor to distract her but for now she wished to practice in peace. But of course, she never did voice this wish, she was too embarrassed about the ordeal.

She faced Aragorn again and wiped the sweat from her brow. He was incredulous at first but carried on.

He was taken aback when she lunged to suddenly, but for the next few minutes it was nothing he couldn't handle. Eventually, she started to notice what he was doing, and it pushed her inner anger more. Was this his plan the whole time? He was repeating the same pattern over again. It was easy to see from the outside but from here she was next to blind in her opinion.

It seemed after a while all she could do was stumble but every now and again, she was able to deflect him as push back a little more.

With a resounding fall thanks to her own two sluggish feet, she waved her hand. "No more." She said sheepishly.

With some grace she allowed him to offer his hand again.

She took an odd moment though, to gulp at his hand.

_Nope, nope, nope,_ she thought, _wishing he'd let go_.

To explain, what she thought she felt was a flutter.

She was no idiot, he was dazzling in some ways. And yet she was calling herself an idiot for similar reasons. He had a betrothed, was destined to be king, and everything that went along with that. And she wished that she hadn't pictured him that way because he was quadruple her age.

Looking up at him after their joined hands she bugged her eyes when he looked straight back at her, except with friendliness. Her stupid hormones did not make sense, especially since she was not technically able to produce children temporarily so she figured she should be like a blank slate and no biological interference.

As quick as her surprise had arrived across her face, she put it away and instead matched the friendliness. "That's been a enough for today, I think." And she didn't wait for his reply for she was already walking towards her things, which were still parked a little distance from everyone else.

_Next thing you know I'm going to have the hots for Gimli,_ she thought, and went to her things to drag them to a comfortable place to have a nap.

* * *

**Thanks for reading this chapter, please review guys!**


	15. Chapter 15 A Corpse

Chapter 15 A Corpse

Everyone tried to sleep as well as they could during the day, since they were trying to be concealed during the night.

Riley however was not simply content to be at peace for the moment. Every few seconds she would scrunch her forehead in distaste or agony at her loss in the spar. She knew how foolish she must look to everyone, and despite the sound sleeping of everyone else, she felt they _must_ be laughing at her in their sleep. She wished she had an ease in her fighting but she knew she took herself too seriously to be lighthearted.

Riley rolled over and it was Aragorn and Sam who were at watch, a dry sweet sight if she weren't so darn embarrassed to even think about the King. Or King to be, she always mixed up the two titles.

She sat up and realized most of her discomfort was due to the fact she had to pee, not only her sore muscles. _I could leave_, she thought, _and sneak away_. For she did not want to tell them she had to go relieve herself. It was something she noticed the Nine walkers liked to know about her and Lana though; where they were at all times. To keep an eye on them, even though they seemed loyal.

Anyways, she figured that in order to not arouse that type of suspicion she told them where she was headed but hurried away to appease herself that the quicker she said it the less time she had to contemplate any embarrassment.

She actually walked quite a ways away down a steep patch, and found a nice spot behind a boulder.

Several minutes later she wasn't keen on returning either and instead took a long way upwards. Finally she reached the group and tip toed closer because they were all suddenly sitting up and talking. Some turned to see her just walk into the vicinity , and she came to sit by Legolas.

"What happened, why's everyone up?" She asked him quietly.

"Aragorn and Sam saw crebain passing overhead, not too long ago while you were away."

"What are those?" Riley asked again, this time genuinely fuzzy on the details.

"They are large black birds and they hail from Fangorn and Dunland, but we think it may have been sent from Saruman to spy."

Riley thought this must have been from the book, or something because they were supposed to have flown over and everyone was hiding and all of that hubbub. Riley didn't notice them while she was away, so it is very likely that they do not know about her still. She had not considered this when she vowed to keep her mission a secret, that there would be more to hiding than just from the fellowship.

"So now what?" Pippin asked in a sulking attitude. "I suppose this means no warm supper if we're leaving."

"You're probably right," Lana whispered to him when no one else acknowledged him.

Very quickly the group assembled to set another course.

* * *

They had scaled high into the hills, and it seemed to be a clear clear, with not very many clouds in the sky. The girls did not know for how long, and relished in this only slight bite of cold. The two were huddled together at lunch discussing their own petty issues of how they were going to burrow through the snow since not many of the others did not seem like they were keen on sharing body heat with them, for decency's sake.

"I don't get it though, it's not like we're trying to snag them." Riley muttered very quietly. "I need someone to blanket me."

"I don't think it was our fault entirely." Lana also whispered with a hint of a smile. "But yeah, a nice Boromir wrapped around me sounds nice about now."

Riley ignored the last past and asked, "Why, what happened?"

Lana leaned into her ear, "Well after the sitting game a few weeks ago, I think Lord Elrond gave his sons a stern talking to. Along with all those men."

"But they're not _really_ prude, right?"

"Well, in a way I guess. We're just 'special' I think Merry said, since he was the one that listened in."

"When?" Riley asked with much alarm, it caused Legolas and Gimli to turn their gaze for a moment, and then they carried on with walking uphill.

"Easy, Rye. He was on his way to the kitchen the long way round, and happened upon an open doored office with Elly and his sons."

"Did you get him to listen in?"

"No, he happened by with Frodo." Lana supplied.

"Did-did he hear anything else?" She asked slowly. Merry was smart, she gave him that, but he was not too suspicious if she could recall. The only eyes that really questioned her when she looked at him, which was not often, was Frodo. His eyes demanded honesty and she could not give it all the time. Maybe Merry and Frodo didn't concern each other with what Elrond said, or maybe they did. Maybe all the hobbits were more curious and cunning than she originally thought. She would have to tread more carefully when talking, especially given how sneaky they were and how crucial it would be to stay hidden with her agenda.

Gradually, rock turned to snow, then to knee deep trudges until you could scarcely hear yourself think over the crunching of the snow and the struggling of your own body. Lana looked up into the sky and it was still clear as day, but not soon enough could their descent down to Moria come.

They had stopped to dispense food to their party once and then carried on upwards.

Lana had taken this time to hurry on beside Boromir and Aragorn to converse since Riley was used to long periods of silence comfortably.

However, as she was near the back, she figured she should erase any connotations that she was mopey and joined conversation with good ole Legolas.

"Hey, how are you?" She asked him.

She must have taken him mildly surprised by how bright her tone was, but he answered nonetheless, "Very well, thank you. And you?"

"Kind of cold, but nothing I can't handle."

"Yes, I can imagine," He said and smiled warmly.

"Say, Legolas, is it true elves can't feel the cold?" Riley said quietly, yet with interest.

"I can a little, what brought that on?" She side glanced him and a small smile tugged at him.

"Just wondering if some of what I know is true." She looked at his attire. He was well dressed but she had never seen him give a care to the cold. He still wore the same warm clothes he first put on. She felt she couldn't be any less well dressed, and yet she also had her sweater and cloak on. She also looked down at his feet, scarcely leaving a mark so that she was alarmed. He was quite thin but built strong, so it surprised her that he didn't trudge the way she did through the snow.

It was another bout of silence and then she figured she should be sensitive and polite about just prodding him from stupid questions. "Legolas, what's your home like? Lothlorien, is it?"

He smiled when she said that, and from that she knew she was probably wrong, "No, I hail from Mirkwood. It is also quite cold there by your terms, but still fine." His forehead knit in worry over something she was sure she did not need to know. "But my kin are from a forest east of the Great River Anduin, but we are not completely unlike those from Lorien."

"Oh."

"Don't worry, I would not expect you to know. Just as no two men are the same even though many of them are alike." He said encouragingly. She nodded in affirmation struck what he had said and was convinced he was being kind to her skin, but they kept on.

"I know you keep to yourself, but do you mind if _I_ ask you what your home is like?" Legolas asked.

Considering the cold, she could only say, "They have lovely summers." They both chuckled a little. "My people are similar to me, mostly brown, I guess. We share a respect for the earth, like you I think. But where I live, it is less mountainous, more hills, and lakes and rock and many mines around the white… settlements."

"I cannot think of a place such as that, that I know of around-" Legolas stopped talking and looked uphill with some alarm, as Frodo rolled down suddenly. The hobbit was in no immediate danger as he stopped at Aragorn's shins. He picked himself up and before dusting off the snow, his little tick of always checking for the Ring came about, but short. Frodo looked uphill and Boromir already had the Ring in his hand by the chain.

Riley was too far away, but from the way Aragorn grasped the hilt of his sword and the furrow in Legolas and Gandalf's brows, Boromir had said something faux pas or angering because he was standing up the hill where Frodo once was.

Riley made no effort to hide a fierce glare, she remembered what had transpired from the movies. It was the moment of selfishness that she remembered why she did not like the man, and what made her feel somewhat satisfied that he had paid for his mistakes by death in the end. It was admittedly harder to hate him _here when_ when she knew him a little in person, but he had to die.

Riley suddenly shook herself of that horrible thought. _To wish death upon someone_.

At that moment, Lana seemed to be looking away, sensing the disapproval, and in Riley's opinion, she was quite in denial. The way that Boromir had collapsed into a different person made her want to grip her weapon a little tighter even though she could not use it effectively.

Lana ignored her for a different reason, and after all the time spent in Rivendell and the past two weeks travelling she had hoped that Riley would see their group as actual people, but that idea seemed to slip at times like these when everything seemed to become objective, since all was going according to plot, an=

it was easier to hate people who did bad things. Yes, Boromir was easily swayed by the idea of the ring but Riley never saw it the same as Lana.

Outwardly, the fellowship carried onward because they had to, and focus on the task ahead other than the one actions of someone, that some considered a fact of their journey. The Ring had that power to entice. Besides, judging from the clouds stirring up the mountains, there would be need to put your energy there rather than petty arguments.

And so, soon Riley and Lana were glued to each other, only separating their legs which had to shuffle behind the burrowing trails of Aragorn and Boromir holding the hobbits. They could hardly hear themselves think, let alone speak to one another because of the howling wind. Lana tried to squeeze her hands for feeling, but she was too numb and the gloves were crusted with ice from the warmth of her hands melting the snow and then freezing over.

"We should make camp," Boromir muttered, his arms so frozen and fatigued that he swore the hobbits he was carrying would fall off. "At least a fire?" He said louder.

Gandalf looked grim when he glanced into the air outwards of the mountain, but he had heard Boromir. "If you can start it with this wind, I don't see why not."

Even if they could burrow a hole deep enough to the rock and set up a fire, the wind would snuff it out. The only solace to the cold was seeing everyone with a beard have frosted tips around their mouths, their hairs were iced. And that only amused the girls. They were wondering when they might come upon the decision to turn around, because several times it had been mentioned to do so, pleadingly, but Gandalf pressed them on.

Suddenly the roar of a voice in the air came about, making Riley clutch Lana tighter. It broke through the wind and they knew they weren't alone. Riley couldn't hear distinct words, even a spell in another language, but it had to be Saruman cursing their path, using the mountain to deter them.

Rock cracked above them, and they pressed themselves against the walls.

"He's trying to bring down the mountain!" Aragorn shouted.

"We must turn back. This will be the death of the hobbits!" Boromir shouted.

Gandalf dissented and pressed onwards.

Riley considered everyone here. Gimli, time and again suggested Moria, where his relatives lived. Beside that, as a dwarf, was he less susceptible to the cold? She knew that Legolas was not so much, but she heard from the way Lana talked about Aragorn and his heritage bit by bit, he was of noble blood, and stronger constitution also, and Boromir was also a descendent of those old folk, she could not remember the name, but they could withstand the cold that way. And the hobbits, who did not wear shoes, still seemed better off than she felt. The cold made her want to shut down, and she knew Lana was almost carrying her. She just felt too tired and cold to move. Her and Lana were not of ancient magical blood, and came from a place where there was no such practical belief or need for magic, and therefore had little to protect themselves from the bad. Even Bill was better off than her with his winter coat.

The mountain suddenly shook again, when Gandalf had stood over the snow to work against the evil forces in that mountain, but up above the pass an outcrop was shot by lightening. Lana's eyes widened and she shove Riley back against the rocky wall.

Silence.

Panicking for breath under the snow, everyone dug upwards. Riley was most certainly awake now, but shaken like everyone else.

Her and Lana waited patiently for it to be decided that they would venture back towards Moria, where more adventure awaited, but more importantly where it was drier and warmer.

* * *

All along the way down the mountain that didn't want them, they gradually wrung out all the water that had been caught and frozen within. They thawed it from their clothes and some of them stripped the too-wet articles.

At the base the air was tense again, even though physically everyone had thawed. No one really forgot what could have happened on that cliff face , nor what Boromir had done before that. Also, on top of that there was the growing pressure of the ring which everyone chose to not credit for their foul moods.

In a moment of selfishness, Riley was slightly pleased that perhaps everyone forgot her bought of foolishness while duelling Aragorn.

Not so though, because they reached the flat wall of Moria, wherein Riley recognized the murky water and the area where the door was going to light, they all paused and she had to force any blush or emotion from her face whenever Aragorn looked her way. Without the snow and wind faltering their vision, moods were more easily recognized.

While Legolas and Gimli clipped at each other over the personalities of the other's race for the idiocy of secret doors, Lana focused on corralling Merry and Pippin against the wall to relax, and rub her feet. This small moment was well received by most everyone, given their extreme pace and they set their things down, though there were no takers on rubbing her pruned feet. Meanwhile Aragorn took a sad Samwise to the side to set their pack horse free. Everyone, still with weary bones grabbed their things reluctantly.

"So what are we waiting for again?" Lana said aloud so that everyone would be privy to what was about to take place, and be sure of herself of what was going to happen.

"The entrance will only show itself in the light of the moon, which will come about soon, once these clouds make their way," Gandalf answered, all the while gazing up into the sky. Soon after what he said, the clouds that had plagued the sky earlier were no more and made way for the moon.

Riley looked at the spot on the wall bored when in that spot the creases and designs in the stone doors lit up and dazzled them all. She admitted that everything so far was more incredible in person even if most of this story was going to be tragic, especially in moments like these, where they were about to be trapped.

She took very little interest in others and focused on recounting her tobacco and medicines. While the main characters in this world were almost guaranteed their ending, she still put her tobacco down for herself and Lana, extra in high-stress events like this one. She was also feeling a little weird from the thaw and silently dry-swallowed an ibuprofen, careful not to shake the container, and then rewrapped the little bottle in a sweater to muffle the rattling sounds. She wasn't low on anything in inventory, other than confidence since everything was about to get much more dangerous. The leaves of mint Aragorn had gathered for the group were going to go bad and she would need to change her toothbrush stick, but it would obviously have to wait until they reached the other side.

Lana elbowed Riley excitedly, and she shoved her things back in her pack in case they had to move soon. It wasn't time yet though, but she tuned in anyways.

"…If you are a friend you speak the password!" Gandalf announced positively.

* * *

Several unsuccessful password entries later, things were starting to look dimmer for everyone, other than Lana and Riley.

"Can I say the line?" Lana whined in Riley's ear.

"Hm, let me think…no." she responded quickly.

"You're no fun."

"I just want things to go smoothly. Enough, you weenie, they'll solve it on their own." Riley then got up and walked around, away from Lana and her hobbits, putting on her pack.

But as the time passed, even Riley grew nervous. She knew that at this moment, Merry or Pippin, or both were supposed to be skipping their rocks across the water, waking up that beast, but Lana had them playing a little hand game she mysteriously conjured up just in time for the plot shift that prevented them from moving. _Was that on purpose? _Riley wondered.

Riley thought about calling them over to the edge of the water and joining her in skipping rocks, as she made her way to the shore, but it would look suspicious considering she didn't normally care much for company, they were preoccupied, and surely someone would warn them against disturbing the flat lake before they would start to.

She knew what she had to do but hated herself for it when she bent down to grab four smooth and flat rocks. She took a deep breath and skipped the first, the second and then the third. Those who were paying attention to Gandalf's variations on the password left her alone, but when Riley wound up to flick the fourth stone away, Aragorn held her wrist tight but not unkindly and shook his head in dissent. She froze with fear at his grasp afraid of what she summoned and watched her feet, where ripples of water lapped near her boots.

She wondered if this would happen on time, or the beast wouldn't be bothered by the rocks.

Lana seemed to notice as well, and considered her fault for a moment. They needed to go into Moria and stay there and the only way was to get the tentacled beast to destroy the door.

But she was also excited by the fact that she could change something at the turn of a plot point, an urge that was constantly pushing her to deviate.

Frodo was listening to Gandalf, taking the major problem at hand more seriously and seemed even more confident the way he immediately stood up and considered the inscriptions finally.

As they neared their discovery of the password, Riley inched away from the water and waited next to the door. Lana took this cue and inconspicuously urged Merry and Pippin over to the glowing door.

"What's the elvish word for friend?" Frodo asked aloud.

"Mellon," Gandalf said slowly, the answer just dawning on him also.

"Wow, good job guys, let's get everybody up and accounted for, I've never been in an underground city before, sounds like a blast." Lana exclaimed in a rush.

Much to both their dismay nobody hurried their way in, but by the power of the original plot, Frodo was the last to file into the doors. It was too dark to see him being pulled backwards into the lake, but his body thudded on the ground and scuffle noises were made when he was dragged quickly back outside. His shouts for help were unmistakable, the girls almost wished they pulled him through first.

Lana wanted to reach out and help with her weapons but in the tussle of confusion, she was shoved behind Boromir, almost causing Lana to knock over Merry. Horror and surprise wrought through the unsuspecting of the company, and everyone filed further into the caves.

Riley was knocked off her feet unfortunately because of Merry and she felt a sickening crack upon landing. Feeling nothing wrong except for a sore hip, she began to rise, but her hand was on something frail and wobbly, and it cracked when she tried to support herself.

Outside, they were struggling to get Frodo free, making lunges at the watery beast who was so keen on the hobbit. Lana helped Gandalf keep the other hobbits out of reach.

Aside from the battle, Riley thought that watching images of bones and corpses through a television screen was different than being face to face with a skull that still had bits of skin while you were flooded in the rest of its bones. She remembered this at the same time as trying to feel the orb-like object in the dark. Riley's constitution for seeing dead things had been limited to a few well preserved bodies at funerals, or the occasional roadkill, but being wrist deep in carcass made her throw up in her mouth, and then spit it out.

Shortly, the men regained Frodo and sprinted through the dwarf doors. Riley had gotten up, only to be bumped into again back down beside her new corpse best friend. She managed to keep her squeals to a minimum, and they were lost in the crumbling of stone.

"Is that bile?" Lana asked after sniffing the air.

Riley struggled up from the ground and spat out the small second round of vomit onto the ground. Suddenly, Gandalf's staff was lit as Gimli was speaking.

"This is no mine. It is a tomb." Boromir said.

Riley could not handle it again and threw up behind Pippin, clutching his shoulder and her stomach.

* * *

**Hey all sorry about the wait, so good news is i've gotten out of a rut with this passable chapter and have already started on the next chapter. again, pm me if you want to beta, or help me with my story, etc. so since im hopefully on a roll it wont be so late for a chapter.**

**and hurray im at 15 chapters my baby story is not really a baby anymore. i dont think. pre-teen so far.**

**anyways, dont forget to review please and lemme know what you think or liked :)**

**-sage94**


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